Editing Vice President of the United States (section)

===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.