Since the Twenty-Fifth Amendment’s ratification in 1967, each of its first three sections has been invoked at least once. However, Section 4, which allows the Vice President and a majority of either the Cabinet or other congressionally estabished body to initiate the transfer of the President’s powers and duties to the Vice President in the event of presidential inability, has never been used.1 Footnote
Consistent with Supreme Court dicta and the Amendment’s legislative history, this essay uses the term “Cabinet” to refer to the “principal officers of the executive departments” designated in 5 U.S.C. § 101.
Sections 1 and 2 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment were invoked during the 1970s as a result of various congressional and criminal investigations into President Richard Nixon’s White House. In 1973, President Nixon invoked Section 2 to fill a vacancy arising from Vice President Spiro Agnew’s resignation during a bribery and corruption investigation.2 Footnote
See
(Oct. 12, 1973), Ford Libr. Museum , >https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/25thamend/19731012_nixonnomannoun.pdf;
Spiro Agnew, FBI Records: The Vault , >https://vault.fbi.gov/Spiro%20Agnew (discussing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s corruption investigation into Agnew). Agnew resigned as Vice President and pleaded no contest to federal tax evasion charges. He was not charged with bribery. See id. After congressional hearings on Nixon’s nominee, House Republican Leader and Representative Gerald R. Ford of Michigan, Congress confirmed Ford to serve as Vice President by a majority vote in each chamber.3 Footnote
119 Cong. Rec. 38225 (1973) (Senate confirmation by a vote of 92 to 3); id. at 39899 (House confirmation by a vote of 387 to 35). For additional background on the confirmation process and hearings held by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the House Judiciary Committee, see Thomas H. Neale , Cong. Rsch. Serv. No. 98-730, Vice Presidential Vacancies: Congressional Procedures in the Ford and Rockefeller Nominations (1998) , >https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19980821_98-730_add110a4a6216e0d5f733c990e773d105dd1871b.pdf. Ford was sworn into office in front of a joint session of Congress by Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger almost two months after Agnew’s resignation.4 Footnote
119 Cong. Rec. 39925–26 (1973) .
A year later, Sections 1 and 2 were invoked as a result of President Nixon’s resignation under threat of impeachment for his involvement in the Watergate scandal. The Watergate scandal involved the June 1972 arrests of five men for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel and Office Building.5 Footnote
For more information on the Watergate scandal, see
, >https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-4-7/ALDE_00000695/ . The arrested men were employed by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, a campaign organization formed to support President Nixon’s reelection.6 Footnote
See id. Congressional and criminal investigations implicated President Nixon and other White House officials in the cover-up of the break-in and attempts to harass political adversaries.7 Footnote
See id. Following hearings and further investigations, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment charging Nixon with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and refusal to cooperate with the committee’s investigation.8 Footnote
See id. ; H. Comm. on the Judiciary , Impeachment of Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States , H.R. Rep. No. 93-1305 , at 1–11 (1974) . For more on the impeachment process, see ArtI.S2.C5.1 Overview of Impeachment, >https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S2-C5-1/ALDE_00000030/; ArtII.S4.1 Overview of Impeachment Clause , >https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-1/ALDE_00000282/ .
President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, before the House held a floor vote on the articles of impeachment, and Vice President Ford immediately became President by operation of Section 1 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.9 Footnote
Letter from President Richard Nixon to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Resigning the Office of President of the United States
(Aug. 9, 1974), Am. Presidency Project , >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-resigning-the-office-president-the-united-states . President Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to become Vice President under Section 2.10 Footnote
See
(Aug. 20, 1974), Ford Libr. Museum , >https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0248/whpr19740820-020.pdf . Rockefeller took office on December 19, 1974, after a nearly four-months-long confirmation process that culminated in a vote of approval by each chamber of Congress.11 Footnote
120 Cong. Rec. 38936 (1974) (Senate confirmation by a vote of 90 to 7); id. at 41516–17 (House confirmation by a vote of 287 to 128). The 1974 midterm elections and the complexity of Rockefeller’s personal finances may have slowed congressional action on the nomination. For additional background on the confirmation process, see Thomas H. Neale , Cong. Rsch. Serv. No. 98-730, Vice Presidential Vacancies: Congressional Procedures in the Ford and Rockefeller Nominations (1998) , >https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19980821_98-730_add110a4a6216e0d5f733c990e773d105dd1871b.pdf. As a result, Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, two men who had not faced the voters in a national election, became President and Vice President, respectively.
Finally, since the Twenty-Fifth Amendment’s ratification, a few presidents have invoked Section 3 to transfer their powers and duties to the Vice President temporarily while they were sedated for medical procedures.12 Footnote
See, e.g.,
Letter from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to President Pro Tempore of the Senate on the Temporary Transfer of the Powers and Duties of President of the United States
Letter from President George W. Bush to Congressional Leaders on Temporary Transfer of the Powers and Duties of President of the United States
(June 29, 2002), Am. Presidency Project , www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/213575 (same). President Ronald Reagan implicitly invoked Section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to transfer his powers and duties to Vice President George H.W. Bush when undergoing colon cancer surgery in 1985. See
Letter from President Ronald Reagan to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House on the Discharge of the President’s Powers and Duties During His Surgery
(July 13, 1985), Am. Presidency Project , >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-the-president-pro-tempore-the-senate-and-the-speaker-the-house-the-discharge-the (stating that Reagan was “mindful of the provisions of Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and of the uncertainties of its application to such brief and temporary periods of incapacity” ). For a list of letters in which presidents transferred or resumed their powers and duties under Section 3, see
List of Vice-Presidents Who Served as Acting President Under the 25th Amendment
Footnotes 1 Consistent with Supreme Court dicta and the Amendment’s legislative history, this essay uses the term “Cabinet” to refer to the “principal officers of the executive departments” designated in 5 U.S.C. § 101. 2 See
Remarks of the President Announcing His Nominee for Vice President(Oct. 12, 1973), Ford Libr. Museum , >https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/25thamend/19731012_nixonnomannoun.pdf;
Spiro Agnew, FBI Records: The Vault , >https://vault.fbi.gov/Spiro%20Agnew (discussing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s corruption investigation into Agnew). Agnew resigned as Vice President and pleaded no contest to federal tax evasion charges. He was not charged with bribery. See id. 3 119 Cong. Rec. 38225 (1973) (Senate confirmation by a vote of 92 to 3); id. at 39899 (House confirmation by a vote of 387 to 35). For additional background on the confirmation process and hearings held by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the House Judiciary Committee, see Thomas H. Neale , Cong. Rsch. Serv. No. 98-730, Vice Presidential Vacancies: Congressional Procedures in the Ford and Rockefeller Nominations (1998) , >https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19980821_98-730_add110a4a6216e0d5f733c990e773d105dd1871b.pdf. 4 119 Cong. Rec. 39925–26 (1973) . 5 For more information on the Watergate scandal, see
, >https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-4-7/ALDE_00000695/ . 6 See id. 7 See id. 8 See id. ; H. Comm. on the Judiciary , Impeachment of Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States , H.R. Rep. No. 93-1305 , at 1–11 (1974) . For more on the impeachment process, see ArtI.S2.C5.1 Overview of Impeachment, >https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S2-C5-1/ALDE_00000030/; ArtII.S4.1 Overview of Impeachment Clause , >https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-1/ALDE_00000282/ . 9
Letter from President Richard Nixon to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Resigning the Office of President of the United States
(Aug. 9, 1974), Am. Presidency Project , >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-resigning-the-office-president-the-united-states . 10 See
Remarks of the President Upon His Announcing Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President-Designate(Aug. 20, 1974), Ford Libr. Museum , >https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0248/whpr19740820-020.pdf . 11 120 Cong. Rec. 38936 (1974) (Senate confirmation by a vote of 90 to 7); id. at 41516–17 (House confirmation by a vote of 287 to 128). The 1974 midterm elections and the complexity of Rockefeller’s personal finances may have slowed congressional action on the nomination. For additional background on the confirmation process, see Thomas H. Neale , Cong. Rsch. Serv. No. 98-730, Vice Presidential Vacancies: Congressional Procedures in the Ford and Rockefeller Nominations (1998) , >https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19980821_98-730_add110a4a6216e0d5f733c990e773d105dd1871b.pdf. 12 See, e.g.,
Letter from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to President Pro Tempore of the Senate on the Temporary Transfer of the Powers and Duties of President of the United States
(Nov. 19, 2021), Am. Presidency Project , >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-president-pro-tempore-the-senate-the-temporary-transfer-the-powers-and-duties (routine colonoscopy);
Letter from President George W. Bush to Congressional Leaders on Temporary Transfer of the Powers and Duties of President of the United States
(June 29, 2002), Am. Presidency Project , www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/213575 (same). President Ronald Reagan implicitly invoked Section 3 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to transfer his powers and duties to Vice President George H.W. Bush when undergoing colon cancer surgery in 1985. See
Letter from President Ronald Reagan to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House on the Discharge of the President’s Powers and Duties During His Surgery
(July 13, 1985), Am. Presidency Project , >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-the-president-pro-tempore-the-senate-and-the-speaker-the-house-the-discharge-the (stating that Reagan was “mindful of the provisions of Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and of the uncertainties of its application to such brief and temporary periods of incapacity” ). For a list of letters in which presidents transferred or resumed their powers and duties under Section 3, see
List of Vice-Presidents Who Served as Acting President Under the 25th Amendment
, Am. Presidency Project , >https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/list-vice-presidents-who-served-acting-president-under-the-25th-amendment .
