[Presidential Term and Succession (1933)]
twentyth
Amendment XX
Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at
noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives
at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have
ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors
shall then begin.
Section 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year,
and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall
by law appoint a different day.
Section 3.
If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the
President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become
President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for
the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to
qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President
shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein
neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified,
declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to
act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President
or Vice President shall have qualified.
Section 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death
of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a
President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for
the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a
Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.
Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of
October following the ratification of this article.
Section 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have
been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of
three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its
submission.