Editing Vice President of the United States (section)

==Constitutional roles==
{{Politics of the United States}}

Although delegates to the constitutional convention approved establishing the office, with both its executive and senatorial functions, not many understood the office, and so they gave the vice president few duties and little power.<ref name=VP-PS>{{cite web| title=Vice President of the United States (President of the Senate)| website=senate.gov| url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm| publisher=Secretary of the Senate| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=July 28, 2018| archive-date=November 15, 2002| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115191818/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm| url-status=live}}</ref> Only a few states had an analogous position. Among those that did, [[New York Constitution|New York's constitution]] provided that "the lieutenant-governor shall, by virtue of his office, be president of the Senate, and, upon an equal division, have a casting voice in their decisions, but not vote on any other occasion".<ref>{{Cite web | title=The Senate and the United States Constitution | url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Constitution_Senate.htm#5 | website=senate.gov | publisher=Secretary of the Senate | location=Washington, D.C. | access-date=February 20, 2018 | archive-date=February 11, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211193328/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Constitution_Senate.htm#5 | url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, the vice presidency originally had authority in only a few areas, although constitutional amendments have added or clarified some matters.

===President of the Senate===

[[Article One of the United States Constitution#Clause 4: Vice President as President of Senate|Article I, Section 3, Clause 4]] confers upon the vice president the title "President of the Senate", authorizing the vice president to [[Presiding Officer of the United States Senate|preside over Senate meetings]]. In this capacity, the vice president is responsible for maintaining order and decorum, recognizing members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices, and precedent. With this position also comes the authority to [[List of tie-breaking votes cast by the vice president of the United States|cast a tie-breaking vote]].<ref name=VP-PS/> In practice, the number of times vice presidents have exercised this right has varied greatly. Incumbent vice president [[Kamala Harris]] holds the record at 33 votes, followed by [[John C. Calhoun]] who had previously held the record at 31 votes; [[John Adams]] ranks third with 29.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lebowitz|first1=Megan|last2=Thorp|first2=Frank|last3=Santaliz|first3=Kate|title=Vice President Harris breaks record for casting the most tie-breaking votes|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/president-harris-breaks-record-casting-tie-breaking-votes-rcna123999|website=NBC News|date=December 5, 2023|access-date=December 5, 2023|archive-date=December 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205185108/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/president-harris-breaks-record-casting-tie-breaking-votes-rcna123999|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: Votes to Break Ties in the Senate |url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/TieVotes.htm |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=United States Senate}}</ref> Nine vice presidents, most recently [[Joe Biden]], did not cast any tie-breaking votes.<ref>{{cite news| title=Check out the number of tie-breaking votes vice presidents have cast in the U.S. Senate| date=July 25, 2017| url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/blog-post/check-out-number-tie-breaking-votes-vice-presidents-have-cast-us-senate| work=Washington Week| publisher=PBS| access-date=December 11, 2021| archive-date=December 12, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212013002/https://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/blog-post/check-out-number-tie-breaking-votes-vice-presidents-have-cast-us-senate| url-status=dead}}</ref>

As the framers of the Constitution anticipated that the vice president would not always be available to fulfill this responsibility, the Constitution provides that the Senate may elect a [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|president pro tempore]] (or "[[Pro tempore|president for a time]]") in order to maintain the proper ordering of the legislative process. In practice, since the early 20th century, neither the president of the Senate nor the pro tempore regularly presides; instead, the president pro tempore usually delegates the task to other Senate members.<ref>{{cite web| last=Forte| first=David F.| title=Essays on Article I: President Pro Tempore| url=https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/1/essays/16/president-pro-tempore| work=Heritage Guide to the Constitution| publisher=The Heritage Foundation| access-date=July 27, 2018| archive-date=August 22, 2020| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200822232208/https://www.heritage.org/constitution/%23!/amendments/8/essays/161/cruel-and-unusual-punishment#!/articles/1/essays/16/president-pro-tempore| url-status=live}}</ref> [[Standing Rules of the Senate Rule XIX|Rule XIX]], which governs debate, does not authorize the vice president to participate in debate, and grants only to members of the Senate (and, upon appropriate notice, former presidents of the United States) the privilege of addressing the Senate, without granting a similar privilege to the sitting vice president. Thus, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine wrote in 1925, during the tenure of Vice President [[Charles G. Dawes]], "once in four years the Vice President can make a little speech, and then he is done. For four years he then has to sit in the seat of the silent, attending to speeches ponderous or otherwise, of deliberation or humor."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=President Dawes|department=The Congress|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,786539,00.html|url-access=subscription|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|location=New York, New York|date=December 14, 1925|volume=6|issue=24|access-date=July 31, 2018|archive-date=October 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019162915/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,786539,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Presiding over impeachment trials ====
In their capacity as president of the Senate, the vice president may preside over most [[Federal impeachment trial in the United States|impeachment trials of federal officers]], although the Constitution does not specifically require it. However, whenever the president of the United States is on trial, the Constitution requires that the [[chief justice of the United States]] must preside. This stipulation was designed to avoid the possible conflict of interest in having the vice president preside over the trial for the removal of the one official standing between them and the presidency.<ref name=A1trial>{{cite web| last=Gerhardt| first=Michael J.| title=Essays on Article I: Trial of Impeachment| url=https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/1/essays/17/trial-of-impeachment| work=Heritage Guide to the Constitution| publisher=The Heritage Foundation| access-date=October 1, 2019| archive-date=August 22, 2020| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200822232208/https://www.heritage.org/constitution/%23!/amendments/8/essays/161/cruel-and-unusual-punishment#!/articles/1/essays/17/trial-of-impeachment| url-status=live}}</ref> In contrast, the Constitution is silent about which federal official would preside were the vice president on trial by the Senate.<ref name=24KJLPP1/><ref>{{Cite journal| title=Can the Vice President preside at his own impeachment trial?: A critique of bare textualism| last=Goldstein| first=Joel K.| url=https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=392001104070027081022120029066016007014068057063028037092012019031105007127000116031006037049124106003039080094094007065105089046016030083072001069104126069096114087051008094092074006002100029126100108126094011105105076101115026002005094084099102090074&EXT=pdf| year=2000| volume=44| journal=Saint Louis University Law Journal| pages=849–870| access-date=September 30, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114195031/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3297261| archive-date=January 14, 2021| url-status=live}}</ref> No vice president has ever been impeached, thus leaving it unclear whether an impeached vice president could, as president of the Senate, preside at their own impeachment trial.

==== Presiding over electoral vote counts ====
The Twelfth Amendment provides that the vice president, in their capacity as the president of the Senate, receives the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] votes, and then, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, opens the sealed votes.<ref name=A2TKec/> The votes are counted during a [[Joint session of the United States Congress|joint session of Congress]] as prescribed by the [[Electoral Count Act]] and the [[Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act]]. The former specifies that the president of the Senate presides over the joint session,<ref>[https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=24&page=373 24 Stat. 373] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015112458/https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=24&page=373 |date=October 15, 2020 }} (Feb. 3, 1887).</ref> and the latter clarifies the solely ministerial role the president of the Senate serves in the process.<ref>[https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=136&page=5234# 136 Stat. 5238] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231027221946/https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm?volume=136&page=5234 |date=October 27, 2023}} (Dec. 9, 2022).</ref> The next such joint session will next take place following the [[2028 United States presidential election|2028 presidential election]], on January 6, 2029 (unless Congress sets a different date by law).<ref name=CRS2017THN/>

In this capacity, four vice presidents have been able to announce their own election to the presidency: John Adams, in 1797, [[Thomas Jefferson]], in 1801, [[Martin Van Buren]], in 1837 and [[George H. W. Bush]], in 1989.<ref name=VP-PS/> Conversely, [[John C. Breckinridge]], in 1861,<ref>{{cite web|last=Glass|first=Andrew|title=Senate expels John C. Breckinridge, Dec. 4, 1861|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/senate-expels-john-c-breckinridge-dec-4-1861-113297|date=December 4, 2014|publisher=Politico|location=Arlington County, Virginia|access-date=July 29, 2018|archive-date=September 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923114731/https://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/senate-expels-john-c-breckinridge-dec-4-1861-113297|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Richard Nixon]], in 1961,<ref name=EV1969count>{{cite news|author=<!--UPI; no by-line.--> |title=Electoral Vote Challenge Loses|work=[[St. Petersburg Times]]|date=January 7, 1969|pages=1, 6|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BvsNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=x3sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3226,4398264|access-date=July 29, 2018|via=Google News}}</ref> [[Al Gore]], in 2001,<ref>{{cite web|last=Glass|first=Andrew|title=Congress certifies Bush as winner of 2000 election, Jan. 6, 2001|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/congress-certifies-bush-as-winner-of-2000-election-jan-6-2001-217291|date=January 6, 2016|publisher=Politico|location=Arlington County, Virginia|access-date=July 29, 2018|archive-date=September 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923123421/https://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/congress-certifies-bush-as-winner-of-2000-election-jan-6-2001-217291|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Kamala Harris]], in [[2025 United States Electoral College vote count|2025]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Korecki |first1=Natasha |last2=Leach |first2=Brennan |title=With an intent stare, a wide smile and a simple declaration, Harris certifies her loss to Trump |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/kamala-harris/kamala-harris-certifies-loss-donald-trump-rcna186013 |website=NBC News |access-date=January 6, 2025}}</ref> each had to announce their opponent's election victory. In 1969, Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]] would have done so as well, following his 1968 loss to Richard Nixon; however, on the date of the congressional joint session, Humphrey was in [[Norway]] attending the funeral of [[Trygve Lie]], the first elected [[Secretary-General]] of the [[United Nations]]. The president pro tempore, [[Richard Russell Jr.|Richard Russell]], presided in his absence.<ref name=EV1969count/> On February 8, 1933, Vice President [[Charles Curtis]] announced the election victory of his successor, House Speaker [[John Nance Garner]], while Garner was seated next to him on the House {{Linktext|dais}}.<ref>{{Cite news| author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| title=Congress Counts Electoral Vote; Joint Session Applauds Every State Return as Curtis Performs Grim Task. Yells Drown His Gavel Vice President Finally Laughs With the Rest as Victory of Democrats Is Unfolded. Opponents Cheer Garner Speaker Declares His Heart Will Remain in the House, Replying to Tribute by Snell| date=February 9, 1933| newspaper=The New York Times| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/02/09/archives/congress-counts-electoral-vote-joint-session-applauds-every-state.html| via=TimesMachine| access-date=October 1, 2019| archive-date=February 11, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211172940/https://www.nytimes.com/1933/02/09/archives/congress-counts-electoral-vote-joint-session-applauds-every-state.html| url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, [[Walter Mondale]], in 1981, [[Dan Quayle]], in 1993, and [[Mike Pence]], in [[2021 United States Electoral College vote count|2021]], each had to announce their successor's election victory, following their re-election losses.

===Successor to the U.S. president===
[[File:Tyler receives news.jpg|thumb|alt=An illustration:Tyler stands on his porch in Virginia, approached by a man with an envelope. Caption reads "Tyler receiving the news of Harrison's death."|upright=1.05|1888 illustration of [[John Tyler]] receiving the news of President [[William Henry Harrison]]'s death from Chief Clerk of the State Department [[Fletcher Webster]]]]

[[Article Two of the United States Constitution#Clause 6: Vacancy and disability|Article II, Section 1, Clause 6]] stipulates that the vice president takes over the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability.<ref name=FordhamLaw2011>{{cite journal|last=Feerick|first=John D.|journal=Fordham Law Review|volume=79|issue=3|date=2011|pages=907–949|url=http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4695&context=flr|title=Presidential Succession and Inability: Before and After the Twenty-Fifth Amendment|publisher=[[Fordham University School of Law]]|location=New York City|access-date=July 7, 2017|archive-date=August 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150820001749/http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4695&context=flr|url-status=live}}</ref> Even so, it did not clearly state whether the vice president became president or simply [[Acting (law)|acted]] as president in a case of succession. Debate records from the 1787 Constitutional Convention, along with various participants' later writings on the subject, show that the framers of the Constitution intended that the vice president would temporarily exercise the powers and duties of the office in the event of a president's death, disability or removal, but not actually become the president of the United States in their own right.<ref name=PVPS2004OCL>{{cite web|last=Neale|first=Thomas H.|title=Presidential and Vice Presidential Succession: Overview and Current Legislation|work=CRS Report for Congress|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31761.pdf|publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=September 27, 2004|access-date=July 27, 2018|archive-date=November 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114173057/https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31761.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=From Failing Hands: the Story of Presidential Succession|last1=Feerick|first1=John D.|last2=Freund|first2=Paul A.|date=1965|url=https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=twentyfifth_amendment_books|publisher=Fordham University Press|location=New York City|page=56|lccn=65-14917|access-date=July 31, 2018|archive-date=November 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120053125/https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=twentyfifth_amendment_books|url-status=live}}</ref>

This understanding was first tested in 1841, following the death of President [[William Henry Harrison]], only {{age in days|March 4, 1841|April 4, 1841}} days into his term. Harrison's vice president, [[John Tyler]], asserted that under the Constitution, he had succeeded to the presidency, not just to its powers and duties. He had himself [[Oath of office of the President of the United States|sworn in]] as president and assumed full presidential powers, refusing to acknowledge documents referring to him as "Acting President".<ref name=JTDA>{{cite web|title=John Tyler: Domestic Affairs|last=Freehling|first=William|date=October 4, 2016|url=https://millercenter.org/president/tyler/domestic-affairs|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia|location=Charllotesville, Virginia|access-date=July 29, 2018|archive-date=March 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312033201/https://millercenter.org/president/tyler/domestic-affairs|url-status=live}}</ref> Although some in Congress denounced Tyler's claim as a violation of the Constitution,<ref name=FordhamLaw2011/> he adhered to his position. His view ultimately prevailed as both the Senate and House voted to acknowledge him as president.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1741-5705.2005.00269.x|last=Abbott|first=Philip|title=Accidental Presidents: Death, Assassination, Resignation, and Democratic Succession|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|date=December 2005|volume=35|issue=4|pages=627–645|jstor=27552721}}</ref> The "Tyler Precedent" that a vice president assumes the full title and role of president upon the death, resignation, or removal from office (via impeachment conviction) of their predecessor was codified through the [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-fifth Amendment]] in 1967.<ref>{{cite web| title=A controversial President who established presidential succession| date=March 29, 2017| url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/john-tyler-americas-most-unusual-president| work=Constitution Daily| publisher=[[National Constitution Center]]| location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania| access-date=November 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/article-2/05-presidential-succession.html| title=Presidential Succession| work=US Law| publisher=Justia| location=Mountain View, California| access-date=July 29, 2018}}</ref> Altogether, nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term. In addition to Tyler, they are [[Millard Fillmore]], [[Andrew Johnson]], [[Chester A. Arthur]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]], [[Calvin Coolidge]], [[Harry S. Truman]], [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], and [[Gerald Ford]]. Four of them—Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson—were later elected to full terms of their own.<ref name=PVPS2004OCL/>

Four sitting vice presidents have been elected president: [[John Adams]] in [[1796 United States presidential election|1796]], [[Thomas Jefferson]] in [[1800 United States presidential election|1800]], [[Martin Van Buren]] in [[1836 United States presidential election|1836]], and [[George H. W. Bush]] in [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]]. Likewise, two former vice presidents have won the presidency, [[Richard Nixon]] in [[1968 United States presidential election|1968]] and [[Joe Biden]] in [[2020 United States presidential election|2020]]. Also, in recent decades four incumbent vice presidents lost a presidential election: Nixon in [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]], Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Al Gore in [[2000 United States presidential election|2000]], and [[Kamala Harris]] in [[2024 United States presidential election|2024]]. Additionally, former vice president Walter Mondale lost in [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Does the Vice Presidency Give Joe Biden an Advantage in the Race to the Top? Here's How VPs Before Him Fared|last=Waxman|first=Olivia|date=April 25, 2019|url=https://time.com/5549797/joe-biden-president-2020-history/|magazine=Time|access-date=December 10, 2021}}</ref> In total, 15 vice presidents have become president.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.insider.com/vice-presidents-who-became-president-2020-12|title=15 vice presidents who became president themselves|first=Talia|last=Lakritz|website=Insider}}</ref>

===Acting president===
{{Further| Acting President of the United States}}

Sections 3 and 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment provide for situations where the president is temporarily or permanently unable to lead, such as if the president has a surgical procedure, becomes seriously ill or injured, or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers or duties of the presidency. Section{{spaces}}3 deals with self-declared incapacity, and Section{{spaces}}4 addresses incapacity declared by the joint action of the vice president and of a majority of the Cabinet.<ref name=NCC25th/> While Section{{spaces}}4 has never been invoked, Section{{spaces}}3 has been invoked on four occasions by three presidents, first in 1985. When invoked on November 19, 2021, [[Kamala Harris]] became the first woman in U.S. history to have presidential powers and duties.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Kate|title=For 85 minutes, Kamala Harris became the first woman with presidential power|date=November 19, 2021|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/19/politics/kamala-harris-presidential-power/index.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=November 19, 2021}}</ref>

Sections 3 and 4 were added because there was ambiguity in the Article{{spaces}}II succession clause regarding a disabled president, including what constituted an "[[incapacity|inability]]", who determined the existence of an inability, and if a vice president became president for the rest of the presidential term in the case of an inability or became merely "acting president". During the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, several presidents experienced periods of severe illness, physical disability or injury, some lasting for weeks or months. During these times, even though the nation needed effective presidential leadership, no vice president wanted to seem like a usurper, and so power was never transferred. After President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] openly addressed his health issues and made it a point to enter into an agreement with Vice President Richard Nixon that provided for Nixon to act on his behalf if Eisenhower became unable to provide effective presidential leadership (Nixon did informally assume some of the president's duties for several weeks on each of three occasions when Eisenhower was ill), discussions began in Congress about clearing up the Constitution's ambiguity on the subject.<ref name=FordhamLaw2011/><ref name=NCC25th>{{cite web| title=The Twenty-fifth Amendment| last1=Kalt| first1=Brian C.| last2=Pozen| first2=David| url=https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv| work=The Interactive Constitution| publisher=The National Constitution Center| location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania| access-date=July 28, 2018| archive-date=September 4, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904214749/https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv| url-status=live}}</ref>