Editing President of the United States (section)

== Selection process ==

=== Eligibility ===

[[Article Two of the United States Constitution#Clause 5: Qualifications for office|Article II, Section 1, Clause 5]] of the Constitution sets three qualifications for holding the presidency. To serve as president, one must:
* be a [[Natural-born-citizen clause (United States)|natural-born citizen of the United States]];
* be at least 35 years old;
* be a [[Residency (domicile)#United States|resident in the United States]] for at least 14 years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/articles/article-ii/article-ii-annenberg/interp/19 |title=Article II. The Executive Branch, Annenberg Classroom |website=The Interactive Constitution |publisher=The National Constitution Center |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |access-date=June 15, 2018}}</ref>

A person who meets the above qualifications would, however, still be disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions:
* Under [[Article One of the United States Constitution#Clause 7: Judgment in cases of impeachment; Punishment on conviction|Article I, Section 3, Clause 7]], having been impeached, convicted and disqualified from holding further public office, although there is some legal debate as to whether the disqualification clause also includes the presidential office: the only previous persons disqualified under this clause were three federal judges.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bernstein |first1=Richard D. |title=Lots of People Are Disqualified From Becoming President |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/trump-disqualification-president/617908/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=March 1, 2021 |language=en |date=February 4, 2021 |quote=In addition to the list of people who are ineligible for reasons of mere demographic chance, the Constitution adds a category of people who cannot be elected as a result of their misdeeds. This category includes presidents (along with vice presidents and federal "civil officers") who are impeached, convicted by two-thirds of the Senate, and disqualified for serious misconduct committed while they were in office.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wolfe |first1=Jan |title=Explainer: Impeachment or the 14th Amendment – Can Trump be barred from future office? |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-explainer-idUSKBN29I356 |website=Reuters |access-date=March 1, 2021 |language=en |date=January 14, 2021}}</ref>
* Under [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution#Participants in rebellion|Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment]], no person who swore an oath to support the Constitution, and later rebelled against the United States, is eligible to hold any office. However, this disqualification can be lifted by a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress.<ref>{{cite web|last=Moreno|first=Paul|title=Articles on Amendment XIV: Disqualification for Rebellion|url=https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/amendments/14/essays/173/disqualification-for-rebellion|website=The Heritage Guide to the Constitution|publisher=The Heritage Foundation|access-date=June 15, 2018}}</ref> There is, again, some debate as to whether the clause as written allows disqualification from the presidential position, or whether it would first require litigation outside of Congress, although there is precedent for use of this amendment outside of the original intended purpose of excluding [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]] from public office after the Civil War.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vlamis |first1=Kelsey |title=Here's how the 14th Amendment could be used to prevent Trump from running again |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-14th-amendment-could-prevent-trump-from-office-2021-2 |website=Business Insider |access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref>
* Under the [[Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-second Amendment]], no person can be elected president more than twice. The amendment also specifies that if any eligible person serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, the former can only be elected president once.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Peabody|first1=Bruce G.|last2=Gant|first2=Scott E.|date=February 1999|title=The Twice and Future President: Constitutional Interstices and the Twenty-Second Amendment|url=http://alpha.fdu.edu/~peabody/Twice_and_Future_President.html|journal=Minnesota Law Review|volume=83|issue=3|pages=565–635|access-date=June 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115121046/http://alpha.fdu.edu/~peabody/Twice_and_Future_President.html|archive-date=January 15, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Albert|first=Richard|title=The Evolving Vice Presidency|journal=Temple Law Review|date=Winter 2005|volume=78|issue=4|url=https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1624&context=lsfp|pages=811–896|access-date=July 31, 2018|via=Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School}}</ref>

=== Campaigns and nomination ===
{{Main|United States presidential primary|United States presidential nominating convention}}
{{See also|United States presidential debates}}
[[File:Carter Reagan Debate 10-28-80.png|thumb|President [[Jimmy Carter]] (left) debates Republican nominee [[Ronald Reagan]] on October 28, 1980, during the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 U.S. presidential campaign]].]]
The modern presidential campaign begins before the [[United States presidential primary|primary elections]], which the two major political parties use to clear the field of candidates before their [[United States presidential nominating convention|national nominating conventions]], where the most successful candidate is made the party's presidential nominee. Typically, the party's presidential candidate chooses a vice presidential nominee, and this choice is [[Rubber stamp (politics)|rubber-stamped]] by the convention. The most common previous profession of presidents is lawyer.<ref>International Law, US Power: The United States' Quest for Legal Security, p 10, Shirley V. Scott—2012</ref>

Nominees participate in [[United States presidential debates|nationally televised debates]], and while the debates are usually restricted to the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominees, [[Third party (United States)|third party]] candidates may be invited, such as [[Ross Perot]] in the 1992 debates. Nominees campaign across the country to explain their views, convince voters and solicit contributions. Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning [[swing state]]s through frequent visits and [[mass media]] advertising drives.

=== Election ===
{{Main|United States presidential election}}
{{See also|United States Electoral College}}
[[File:ElectoralCollege2028.svg|thumb|293x293px|Map of the [[United States]] showing the number of electoral votes allocated following the [[2020 United States Census|2020 census]] to each [[U.S. state|state]] and the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] for the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections. 270 electoral votes are required for a majority out of 538 votes possible.]]
The president is elected indirectly by the voters of each state and the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]] through the Electoral College, a body of electors formed every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and vice president to concurrent four-year terms. As prescribed by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, each state is entitled to a number of electors equal to the size of its total delegation in both houses of Congress. Additionally, the [[Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-third Amendment]] provides that the District of Columbia is entitled to the number it would have if it were a state, but in no case more than that of the least populous state.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/twenty-third-amendment|title=Twenty-third Amendment|date=March 29, 1961|website=Annenberg Classroom|publisher=The Annenberg Public Policy Center|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> Currently, all states and the District of Columbia select their electors based on a popular election.<ref name="CRS2017THN">{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32611.pdf|title=The Electoral College: How It Works in Contemporary Presidential Elections|last=Neale|first=Thomas H.|date=May 15, 2017|website=CRS Report for Congress|publisher=Congressional Research Service|location=Washington, D.C.|page=13|access-date=July 29, 2018}}</ref> In all but two states, the party whose presidential–vice presidential [[Ticket (election)|ticket]] receives a [[Plurality (voting)|plurality]] of popular votes in the state has its entire [[Slate (elections)|slate]] of elector nominees chosen as the state's electors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/electors.html|title=About the Electors|website=U.S. Electoral College|publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]]|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref> [[Maine]] and [[Nebraska]] deviate from this {{nowrap|winner-take-all}} practice, awarding two electors to the statewide winner and one to the winner in each [[List of United States congressional districts|congressional district]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fairvote.org/maine_nebraska|title=Maine & Nebraska|publisher=FairVote|location=Takoma Park, Maryland|access-date=August 1, 2018|archive-date=August 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180802041058/http://www.fairvote.org/maine_nebraska|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.270towin.com/content/split-electoral-votes-maine-and-nebraska/|title=Split Electoral Votes in Maine and Nebraska|website=[[270towin.com]]|access-date=August 1, 2018}}</ref>

On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, about six weeks after the election, the electors convene in their respective state capitals (and in Washington, D.C.) to vote for president and, on a separate ballot, for vice president. They typically vote for the candidates of the [[Political parties in the United States|party]] that nominated them. While there is no constitutional mandate or federal law requiring them to do so, the District of Columbia and 32 states have laws requiring that their electors vote for the candidates to whom they are [[Promise|pledged]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Faithless Elector State Laws |url=https://www.fairvote.org/faithless_elector_state_laws |website=Fair Vote |access-date=March 4, 2020 |archive-date=December 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219162610/https://www.fairvote.org/faithless_elector_state_laws |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Laws Binding Electors |url=http://presidentialelectorlaws.us |access-date=March 4, 2020}}</ref> The constitutionality of these laws was upheld in ''[[Chiafalo v. Washington]]'' (2020).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Howe|first=Amy|date=July 6, 2020|title=Opinion analysis: Court upholds "faithless elector" laws|url=https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/07/opinion-analysis-court-upholds-faithless-elector-laws/|access-date=July 11, 2020|website=[[SCOTUSblog]]}}</ref> Following the vote, each state then sends a certified record of their electoral votes to Congress. The votes of the electors are opened and counted during a joint session of Congress, held in the first week of January. If a candidate has received an [[Supermajority|absolute majority]] of electoral votes for president (currently 270 of 538), that person is declared the winner. Otherwise, the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] must meet to elect a president using a [[contingent election]] procedure in which representatives, voting by state delegation, with each state casting a single vote, choose between the top ''three'' electoral vote-getters for president. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive the votes of an absolute majority of states (currently 26 of 50).<ref name=CRS2017THN />

There have been two contingent presidential elections in the nation's history. A 73–73 electoral vote tie between [[Thomas Jefferson]] and fellow Democratic-Republican [[Aaron Burr]] in the [[1800 United States presidential election|election of 1800]] necessitated the first. Conducted under the original procedure established by [[Article Two of the United States Constitution#Clause_3:_Electoral_College|Article II, Section 1, Clause{{nbsp}}3]] of the Constitution, which stipulates that if two or three persons received a majority vote and an equal vote, the House of Representatives would choose one of them for president; the {{nowrap|runner-up}} would become vice president.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/2/essays/80/electoral-college|title=Essays on Article II: Electoral College|last=Kuroda|first=Tadahisa|website=The Heritage Guide to The Constitution|publisher=The Heritage Foundation|access-date=July 27, 2018}}</ref> On February 17, 1801, Jefferson was elected president on the 36th ballot, and Burr elected vice president. Afterward, the system was overhauled through the [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twelfth Amendment]] in time to be used in the [[1804 United States presidential election|1804 election]].<ref name="HF-XII">{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/amendments/12/essays/165/electoral-college|title=Essays on Amendment XII: Electoral College|last=Fried|first=Charles|website=The Heritage Guide to the Constitution|publisher=The Heritage Foundation|access-date=February 20, 2018}}</ref> A quarter-century later, the choice for president again devolved to the House when no candidate won an absolute majority of electoral votes (131 of 261) in the [[1824 United States presidential election|election of 1824]]. Under the Twelfth Amendment, the House was required to choose a president from among the top three electoral vote recipients: [[Andrew Jackson]], [[John Quincy Adams]], and [[William H. Crawford]]. Held February 9, 1825, this second and most recent contingent election resulted in John Quincy Adams being elected president on the first ballot.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boller|first=Paul F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fZ_fSmFIabQC|title=Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-19-516716-0|edition=2nd revised|location=New York, New York|pages=36–39|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref>

=== Inauguration ===
{{Main|United States presidential inauguration}}

Pursuant to the [[Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twentieth Amendment]], the four-year term of office for both the president and the vice president begins at noon on January 20, in the year following the preceding presidential election.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xx |title=The Twentieth Amendment |last1=Larson |first1=Edward J. |last2=Shesol |first2=Jeff |website=The Interactive Constitution |publisher=The National Constitution Center |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |access-date=June 15, 2018}}</ref> The first presidential and vice presidential terms to begin on this date, known as [[United States presidential inauguration|Inauguration Day]], were the [[Second inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt|second terms]] of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Vice President [[John Nance Garner]] in 1937.<ref name="HHistory1201937">{{Cite web |url=http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/35948?ret=True |title=The First Inauguration after the Lame Duck Amendment: January 20, 1937 |publisher=Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref> Previously, Inauguration Day was on March 4. As a result of the date change, the first term (1933–37) of both men had been shortened by {{age in days|1937|1|20|1937|3|4}} days.<ref name="GPOCONAN20171021">{{Cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2017-10-21.pdf |title=Commencement of the Terms of Office: Twentieth Amendment |website=Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation |publisher=United States Government Printing Office, Library of Congress |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=2297–98 |access-date=July 24, 2018}}</ref>

Before executing the powers of the office, a president is required to [[Recitation|recite]] the [[Oath of office of the president of the United States|presidential Oath of Office]], found in [[Article Two of the United States Constitution#Clause 8: Oath or affirmation|Article II, Section 1, Clause{{nbsp}}8 of the Constitution]]. This is the only component in the inauguration ceremony mandated by the Constitution:

{{blockquote|I do solemnly swear (or [[Affirmation in law|affirm]]) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.<ref name="VK218">{{Cite web |url=https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/2/essays/85/oath-of-office |title=Essays on Article II: Oath of Office |last=Kesavan |first=Vasan |website=The Heritage Guide to The Constitution |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref>}}

Presidents have traditionally placed one hand upon a [[Bible]] while taking the oath, and have added "So help me God" to the end of the oath.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-presidents-use-bibles-at-inaugurations |title=How Presidents use Bibles at inaugurations |last=NCC Staff |date=January 20, 2017 |website=Constitution Daily |publisher=National Constitution Center |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |access-date=August 3, 2018 |archive-date=August 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804014507/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/how-presidents-use-bibles-at-inaugurations |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/who-said-that-a-quick-history-of-the-presidential-oath |title=Who said that? A quick history of the presidential oath |last=Munson |first=Holly |date=July 12, 2011 |website=ConstitutionDaily |publisher=National Constitution Center |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |access-date=August 3, 2018 |archive-date=August 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804014505/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/who-said-that-a-quick-history-of-the-presidential-oath |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although the oath may be administered by any person authorized by law to administer oaths, presidents are traditionally sworn in by the [[Chief Justice of the United States|chief justice of the United States]].<ref name=VK218 />