Adequacy of Current Succession Law in Light of the Constitution and Policy Considerations

In this article, Gerald R. Ford’s counsel during Ford’s confirmation to the vice presidency under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment recounts the process, including investigations into Ford as part of the process and the confirmation hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives. The Article also discusses aspects of Ford’s tenure as Vice President, particularly efforts by White House officials to enlist Ford in defending President Richard Nixon amid the Watergate scandal and Ford’s response to those efforts. The Article is adapted from the author’s remarks at the symposium The Adequacy of the Presidential Succession System in the 21st Century, which was held at Fordham University School of Law on April 16 and 17, 2010

Assertion, knowledge and predictions

John N. Williams (1994) and Matthew Weiner (2005) invoke predictions in order to undermine the normative relevance of knowledge for assertions; in particular, Weiner argues, predictions are important counterexamples to the Knowledge Account of Assertion (KAA). I argue here that they are not true counterexamples at all, a point that can be agreed upon even by those who reject KAA