Flight Delay
Critical Analysis
According to the chart above, how many days are there between the U.S. presidential election and inauguration?
According to the chart above, which country has the shortest delay between election and inauguration?
How does the American delay between election and inauguration compare to other large democratic nations?
Imagine that we had a one day delay between election and inauguration like the U.K. In what way would that benefit the American political system?
In what way would that harm the American political system?
What do you think would be the ideal delay between election and inauguration?
The authors of the U.S. Constitution created the delay between election and inauguration to give a new government time to travel to the nation’s capital during winter. This delay made sense in the 18th century. Do you think that delay is still neccessay?
In 1933, the U.S. shortened the delay once, through the 20th Amendment. Do you think the delay should be changed again?
Describe the method by which we could change the inauguration date?
Imagine we changed the delay from election to inauguration to 14 days. Joseph Biden would have been POTUS since Thanksgiving. How do you think our country would be different right now, had that happened?
Many legal scholars say there is little justification for today’s two-and-a-half-month wait. Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas has called it the Constitution’s “most mischievous” feature.“ There is something profoundly troubling,” Levinson wrote in an academic journal in 1995, “in allowing repudiated presidents to continue to exercise the prerogatives of what is usually called ‘the most powerful political office in the world.’” Make a claim about whether you agree with Levinson’s statement.
Describe the most positive change for our nation once Joseph Biden becomes president at noon on January 20, 2021?
Learning Extension
Listen to this NPR story explaining why there is a delay between election and inauguration.
Action Extension
Contact your member of Congress and express your opinion about how long the delay should be between presidential election and presidential inauguration.
Visual Extension
You will find more infographics at Statista