RELATING TO THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT-DESIGNATE BETWEEN THE 87-273 CC FEBRUARY 2, 1994 Serial No. J-103-39 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1995 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-046709-8 KE36 CONTENTS STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Simon, Hon. Paul, a U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Hon. Birch Bayh, a former U.S. Senator from the State of Indiana Walter Dellinger, assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Panel consisting of Trevor Potter, chairman, Federal Election Commission; Akhil Reed Amar, Southmayd professor, Yale University Law School; and Walter Berns, John M. Olin professor, Georgetown University, and Adjunct PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION BETWEEN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1994 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m. in room SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Paul Simon, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. STATEMENT OF HON. PAUL SIMON, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS Senator SIMON. The subcommittee hearing will come to order. First of all, my apologies to the witnesses. I don't like to have people keep me late and I don't like to keep other people late, and I got jammed in on one of these things that I couldn't get out of. We have the question-and let me pay tribute to Thomas H. Neale, who is an analyst in the Government Division of the Congressional Research Service, for his research in this area about what we do in this area of Presidential succession. It is clear what happens after people are sworn in. It is clear that a political party has the right. We have had recent examples. There have been three examples where Vice Presidential nominees have left the ticket. In the case of Stephen A. Douglas, his Vice Presidential nominee, a Senator, left the ticket. In the case of George McGovern, our colleague, Senator Tom Eagleton, left the ticket. In the case of William Howard Taft in the 1912 election, the Vice President, his nominee, died just 6 days before the election. What came out of a hearing that we had last year on another subject is less clear. There is some question on the part of experts on the period between the election and the swearing-in, though the 20th amendment covers part of that, but there is apparently a great deal of uncertainty of what would happen between the time the electoral college meets and the electoral college vote is counted. Realistically, we have had cases. Horace Greeley died just a few days after an election. Horace Greeley was not elected, but we some day may have a problem and we can correct it statutorily, but we ought to take a look at the problem to see if something can or should be done. I am pleased that we have some people who have done work in this field. First of all, our first witness is the former Senator from (1) |