Here’s why inauguration takes place so long after presidential elections
President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede after President-elect Joe Biden was projected the winner of the 2020 election has raised questions about the weeks-long transfer of power when there is a new administration coming into office.
Until Jan. 20, Trump is in a lame duck period — which is when a successor has been elected to replace the current president, who still maintains the power of the presidency. It’s a distinctive concept for the U.S. as most democratic elections don’t result in a sitting president continuing to lead the country for a period, Quartz reported.
The incoming president isn’t officially elected until the Electoral College votes for the winner, which doesn’t happen until mid-December, according to NPR. This year, that takes place on Dec. 14, during which official electors will vote in their state capitols.
The weeks between Election Day and Inauguration Day also give the President-elect time to plan an administration, receive classified intelligence briefings and choose cabinet members.
The original lame duck period was even longer.
The Congress of the Confederation established Mar. 4, 1789 as the date “for commencing proceedings” of the government — but President George Washington’s inauguration was further delayed by eight weeks due to bad weather. Following presidents for decades were inaugurated on Mar. 4, as it took time to count votes and have members of the new government move to Washington, D.C.
Jim Bendat, author of “Democracy’s Big Day: The Inauguration of Our President, 1789-2013,” told LiveScience that March 4 was also partially chosen as the original Inauguration Day on religious grounds after “Congress’ study of future calendars revealed that this date was least likely to land on a Sunday.”
The lame duck period has caused problems in the past, such as when seven states seceded from the Union after the 1860 election, giving President-elect Abraham Lincoln no power to act while President James Buchanan didn’t take action.
The 20th amendment, ratified on Jan. 23, 1933, changed Inauguration Day to Jan. 20 and the new Congress first meeting to Jan. 3, because technology decreased the amount of time it took to certify votes and allow officials to travel to the nation’s capitol.
During the Great Depression, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn’t implement his New Deal until four months after the election. The amendment finally took effect in Oct. 1933 and Roosevelt was sworn in on Jan. 20, 1937 for his second term. Following presidents have since been inaugurated on that day.
“There was a debate on when to change it, because it was decided pretty universally that four months was too long to wait,” Bendat told LiveScience. “The Senate originally wanted to change it to Jan. 15, and the House of Representatives suggested Jan. 24, and Jan. 20 was reached as a compromise.”
Legal challenges to a presidential election have in the past gone on for weeks.
After the 2000 election, lawsuits were processed during that period to contest the results in Florida. The state’s electors were delivered to George W. Bush — who won the state by 537 votes after a Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 12. Florida put Bush over the 270 electoral threshold to win the presidency.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States determined in 2004 that the five weeks it took to decide the winner of the election in 2000 “weakened the ability of the U.S. to detect and deter the plotters of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” according to NPR.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Here’s why inauguration takes place so long after presidential elections."