First Among Equals (41 page)

Section 4.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

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MENDMENT
XXVI (1971)

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.

Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

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MENDMENT
XXVII (1992)

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

“Wise…discerning…engaging…an insider's view of the Supreme Court [from] an intimate of the Constitution and the judicial process.”

—
New York Times Book Review

Today's U.S. Supreme Court consists of nine intriguingly varied justices— and one overwhelming contradiction: Compared to the Warren Court, the Rehnquist Court appears deceptively passive, yet it stands as ready to defy convention as its trailblazing predecessor of the 1950s and ‘60s. Now Kenneth W. Starr—who argued twenty-five eases as solicitor general before the Supreme Court and is one of the nation's most distinguished practitioners of constitutional law—offers us an incisive and unprecedented look at the highest court in the land. He shows us. as no one ever has, the very human justices who have shaped our law. from Sandra Day O'Connor, the Court's most pivotal player, to Clarence Thomas, its most original thinker. And he explores the present Court's evolution into a lawyerly tribunal dedicated to both consensus and debate on these and other hotly contested issues.

Learn how and why:

•  
On free speech,
the Court unswervingly upheld the rights of unpopular speakers in the face of government attempts to regulate

•  
On executive privilege,
the Court rebuffed three presidents who fought to increase their power.

•  
On the 2000 presidental election,
the Court prevented what it deemed a runaway Florida court from riding roughshod over state law—illustrating how in our government. the Supreme Court is truly the first among equals.

“Engaging…thoughtful…believable.”

—Business Week

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