LAME DUCK DAY (1933)
About Lame Duck Day
Lame Duck Day marks the anniversary of the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution:
“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.”
Lame Duck refers to the period of time when an elected official nears the end of his tenure and his/her successor has been elected.
Inauguration Day occurred on March 4 up through 1932. Congress usually had two sessions, the second of which was usually held from the December after the election of the next Congress until March. This session was commonly called the "lame duck session". The 20th Amendment moved the beginning of the new Congress to January 3 and the inauguration of the president to January 20, thus shortening the lame duck period from 4 months to 2 months.
“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.”
Lame Duck refers to the period of time when an elected official nears the end of his tenure and his/her successor has been elected.
Inauguration Day occurred on March 4 up through 1932. Congress usually had two sessions, the second of which was usually held from the December after the election of the next Congress until March. This session was commonly called the "lame duck session". The 20th Amendment moved the beginning of the new Congress to January 3 and the inauguration of the president to January 20, thus shortening the lame duck period from 4 months to 2 months.
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