Surely you ’ve heard it before . If you ’ve read any news chronicling an incumbent president who ’s reached the end of his condition , you ’ve come across the full term " halting duck . " ab initio , it was used to describe investor who were ineffectual to pay their debts . In the hand of Americans around 100 yr later it was lend oneself to " broken down politicians " [ reference : The Phrase Finder ] . This version stuck .
Despite their diffident - sound moniker , game - duck’s egg agency holders are n’t always as meek as little Lamb . Since they may no longer feel beholden to elector , these officials may take advantage of their place against the wishes of their constituents . The 20th Amendment to the Constitution , known as the Lame Duck Amendment , was devolve to repress this risk , by shortening the term of elected official who are vote out of role .
The gimpy - duck’s egg phenomenon even has its own obscure holiday . February 6 of each year is " Lame Duck Day , " a time to contemplate upon the service provided by a public retainer after his or her tenure has been fill in [ origin : Holiday Insight ] . It ’s held on February 6 because it was on that day in 1933 that the 20th Amendment was take on [ seed : FindLaw ] .
Lame duck’s egg politicians are serving out their last terms because they have fall behind a re - election or are no longer eligible to do . The term is often used to describe sit President who have served two terms , and have put down their last twelvemonth . It ’s somewhat bastardly - spirited , look toward the future while the incumbent remains in office – for the time being .
But to charge pol with lame duck status just because they have reached the end of their terminus is like assuming an aged Leo no longer has any teeth ; they were once , after all , powerful . Besides , now unloosen from any duty to courtroom voter for another election , lame ducks have much more freedom to keep up their own course of instruction .
take about some of the hit ( and Miss ) some lame duck’s egg presidents have made in the terminal days of their terms in this article . But first , read about the Lame Duck Amendment to the Constitution .
The Lame-duck Amendment
Prior to the institution of the 20th Amendment in 1933 , fellow member of Congress sat for a full 13 months in office after lose an election . This was plentiful clock time for some to raid the office supplying closet , as it were . " The onetime members , in lame duck’s egg sessions , often did things that the fresh members might not " is one manner of put it [ source : The New York Times ] .
And , at times , there are so many new faces in Congress that the integral trunk is considered to be a feeble duck . This is most often seen when a transfer of power from one political party to another occurs . During times when an idle Congress is seated , the bodies may be prostrate to a routine more mischief than usual . For example , they can impeach a Chief Executive , as watch in 1998 just before Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives . The young House take over amid call from their Republican herald to impeach Democratic Chief Executive Bill Clinton .
A Congress that has been strip of its leadership by the votes of the mass is generally seen as less practicable , so the whimsey of continuing impeachment proceedings by a lame duck’s egg body struck some in 1998 as unconstitutional . Since the impeachment proceeding could have made it through the House but not the Senate by the needed deadline of January 3 , whether or not the House - come forth declaration to impeach Clinton was sound came into question . " A lame duck’s egg impeachment is entitled to even less respect than an ordinary bill passed by a lame - duck House , " said Yale Law School professor Bruce Ackerman , who testified before a congressional committee on the matter [ reservoir : The New York Times ] .
The 20th Amendment was also design , in part , to protect against a repetition of the 1876 election . Samuel J. Tilden take up the democratic vote that year , but neither he nor Rutherford B. Hayes had the majority of the balloting of theElectoral College– the dead body that really elect the president in the United States . Both candidates claim the same electoral votes in some of the states .
In the event of an literal tie , the U.S. Constitution says that the House of Representatives choose the next President of the United States . Each state delegation receives one vote , and ballots are n’t cast until January 6 , three days after the new House takes power [ rootage : The Washington Post ] .
In the Tilden / Hayes contest of 1876 , Congress set up a bipartisan citizens committee to nibble the next president . Republican members of the citizens committee outnumbered their popular counterparts and chose Hayes in a controversial decision [ source : CBS News ] .
Because this election took blank space prior to the enactment of the 20th amendment in 1933 , Congress was in office until March of the following twelvemonth – three months after the deadline passed . This call forth an intriguing theory in which members of a lame - duck’s egg Congress , upset that they were n’t re - elected , could apply their remaining big businessman to choose a new president against the will of voters they no longer felt they represented .
This whim hit the Senate judiciary committee enquire that possible action as just wrong . " It is quite apparent that such a power ought not to exist , and that the the great unwashed having express themselves at the ballot box should through the Representatives then pick out , be able-bodied to select the President for the ensuing term … " [ source : Cornell University Law ] .
But the title of lame duck’s egg is utilise more often to the President of the United States than to member of Congress . On the next page , we ’ll look at what some commander - in - chief have done with the free time they ’ve found over the years .
Presidential Lame Ducks
Many game duck’s egg presidents jaunt overseas in the hopes of establishing peace for pass on a legacy in their wake as they give business office . President George W. Bush undertook such a trip when he bring down the Middle East for the first meter as president in January 2008 . Ronald Reagan conform to with then Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev to settle the goal of the Cold War . Other presidents work feverishly to get new legislation labor through . And other halt duck’s egg president can plainly be downright filthy as they make to leave bureau .
One action that a lame duck’s egg chairman can take ( and traditionally does ) is to issue presidential pardons . Although President have the baron to issue pardons each twelvemonth , the ones that issue forth out of a lame duck’s egg ’s office can be especially disgraceful . President George H.W. Bush pardoned some former White House staffers who were involved in the Iran - Contra affaire that took office while Bush was frailty - president [ source : The Independent ] . On his last day in office on Jan. 20 , 2001 , President Bill Clinton issued scads of amnesty , let in for his pal and the husband of one of hisfundraisers[source : Department of Justice ] .
President Jimmy Carter was almost able to pull the very thorn from his side that had cost him the 1980 election : the Iran hostage crisis . Before he left office in January 1981 , Carter consecrate to finish the 444 - day hostage situation that followed the siege of the American embassy in Tehran in 1977 before he left office . On his last full day in office , Carter worked throughout the night in an effort to finalize negotiations . He just missed his marker , however ; the hostages were bring out only a few minutes after Reagan was sworn in as President [ source : PBS ] .
Presidential lame ducks can also pull surprise from their arm , too . Republican president Ronald Reagan signed " a big welfare bill " before give office [ source : Wall Street Journal ] . And sometimes lame ducks can be lucky ducks . In 1801 , lame duck president John Adams was deliver with a vacancy in the Supreme Court –appointing a justiceis a chance to leave a legacy . Adams appointed Justice John Marshall [ source : Supreme Court History ] .
gimpy duck’s egg presidents may get creative with their power during their last year in office . natural action may increase : The Carter administration issued 24,000 pages of new regulations on its way out ; Clinton leave 26,000 pages . By doing so , a president buries his successor in a muckle of paperwork , effectively " extending his influence beyond the limit of his term " [ beginning : Boston University ] .
Clinton also was criminate by the bring home the bacon presidency of George W. Bush of removing all of the " W"s from the computer keyboards in the White House [ seed : Boston University ] .
Sometimes , a chairwoman no longer has the support to get the thing done that he ’d like to in his last year . Harry S. Truman ’s approval rating was so low at the end of his presidential term ( 22 percent ) [ rootage : National Journal ] that he simply got on a train and went home at the death of his term [ author : The Houston Chronicle ] .
Every chairperson desire to end his presidency on a high bill ; not all do . Some are more " feeble " than others . But as Democrat senator Patrick Leahy put it in 2007 , " No Chief Executive is ever a halt duck’s egg . He ’s still president " [ beginning : National Journal ] .
say more about American politics and other related to topics on the next Thomas Nelson Page .
