Constitution Day with a Framer of the 25th Amendment
The United States was at a breaking point. The country was deeply divided and the federal government was ineffective. In the summer of 1787, some of the newly formed nation’s most distinguished citizens gathered to craft a solution.
Fordham Conversations Host John Rogan is joined by John D. Feerick, the Norris Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law and dean emeritus to discuss Constitution Day, which is September 17--the date in 1787 when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed off on the Constitution.
As a recent graduate of Fordham College and Fordham Law School in the mid-1960s, Dean Feerick played a key role in framing the Constitution’s 25th Amendment—which addresses presidential succession and inability. He also worked on a nearly successful effort to abolish the Electoral College and brought his constitutional expertise back to Fordham Law School, where he teaches seminars and clinics on the Constitution.
Additional Resources
- Dean Feerick's 1963 Fordham Law Review article on presidential succession, which was published a month before the the Kennedy assassination and got him involved in working on the 25th Amendment
- Fordham Law's 25th Amendment Archive, which includes Feerick's correspondence with members of Congress and others during the 25th Amendment's drafting
- Feerick's 1968 Fordham Law Review article calling for a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College, which was published around the time he began working with the American Bar Association and Senator Birch Bayh on an amendment eliminating the Electoral College
- The reports from Fordham Law's Democracy and the Constitution Clinic, which Dean Feerick and John Rogan co-taught. The clinic advanced reform recommendations related to the Constitution.
- The Fordham University Press page for Feerick's memoir, which includes discussions of his work on constitutional issues
