Federal Desk BookConstitution Annotated

Article I, Section 3, Clause 5 — Officers

Article I, Section 3, Clause 5

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

ArtI.S3.C5.1 Senate Officers

Article I, Section 3, Clause 5, provides for the Senate to choose officers1 and a President pro tempore, who would serve as the President of the Senate when the Vice President of the United States is unable to fill that role.2 Unlike the President of the Senate, who may only vote in the Senate when there is a tie, the President pro tempore may “vote upon all questions before the Senate.”3 The importance of the President pro tempore in the constitutional framework was underscored in 1792 when Congress provided for the President pro tempore to serve as President of the United States if neither the President nor the Vice President were able to do so.4 Pursuant to the Succession Act of 1947, the President pro tempore is now third in the chain of succession to the presidency of the United States after the Vice President and Speaker of the House.5

Pursuant to Article I, Section 3, Clause 5, the Senate has discretion to choose and remove its officers.6 In his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, Justice Joseph Story noted that the benefits of allowing the Senate to choose its officers and a President pro tempore were “so obvious, that it is wholly unnecessary to vindicate it.”7 He further stated: “Confidence between the senate and its officers, and the power to make a suitable choice, and to secure a suitable responsibility for the faithful discharge of the duties of office, are so indispensable for the public good, that the provision will command universal assent, as soon as it is mentioned.”8

Notes
  1. Senate officers include the Secretary of the Senate, Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper, chaplain, and majority and minority party secretaries. IDA BRUDNICK, CONG. RSCH. SERV., R43532, OFFICES AND OFFICIALS IN THE SENATE: ROLES AND DUTIES (2015), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R43532. See also VALERIE HEITSHUSEN, CONG. RSCH. SERV., RS20722, THE FIRST DAY OF A NEW CONGRESS: A GUIDE TO PROCEEDINGS ON THE SENATE FLOOR (2020), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RS/RS20722. ↩
  2. For additional discussion on the role of the President pro tempore, see CHRISTOPHER DAVIS, CONG. RSCH. SERV., RL30960, THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE: HISTORY AND AUTHORITY OF THE OFFICE (2015), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30960. ↩
  3. ROGER FOSTER, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, HISTORICAL AND JURIDICAL, WITH OBSERVATIONS UPON THE ORDINARY PROVISIONS OF STATE CONSTITUTIONS AND A COMPARISON WITH THE CONSTITUTIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES § 84 (1895). See also U.S. CONST. art. I, § 3, cl. 4. ↩
  4. Act of Mar. 1, 1792, ch. VIII, § 9, 1 Stat. 240 (providing that “in case of removal, death, or inability of both the President and the Vice President of the United States, the President of the Senate pro tempore, and in the case there shall be no President of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as President of the United States until the disability be removed or a President shall be elected.”). ↩
  5. CHRISTOPHER DAVIS, CONG. RSCH. SERV., RL30960, THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE: HISTORY AND AUTHORITY OF THE OFFICE (2015), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30960. The Succession Act of 1886 replaced the President pro tempore and Speaker of the House of Representatives with members of the President’s cabinet in the order in which their respective departments had been established. Act of Jan. 19, 1886, ch. 4, § 1, 24 Stat. 1. ↩
  6. ROGER FOSTER, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, HISTORICAL AND JURIDICAL, WITH OBSERVATIONS UPON THE ORDINARY PROVISIONS OF STATE CONSTITUTIONS AND A COMPARISON WITH THE CONSTITUTIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES § 85 (1895). ↩
  7. JOSEPH STORY, COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES § 739 (1833). ↩
  8. Id. ↩