Professor John Feerick was featured in an Irish Central article about his role in drafting the 25th Amendment.
So, what is the 25th amendment, how does it work, and where did it come from?
The amendment was written by Professor John Feerick, a highly respected lawyer and the former Dean of Fordham Law school. Feerick is the son of Mary Boyle, who arrived from Mayo in 1928, and John Feerick, who arrived in the US a year later. They were each looking to escape the poverty of the Mayo farmlands, and had the fortune to meet each other in a dance hall on the other side of the Atlantic.
One week before the Kennedy assassination in November 1963 Feerick had written a scholarly essay on presidential succession. When Kennedy died and it became apparent there was no provision for a Vice President, Feerick’s article became the focus of legal scholars politicians and public alike.
Suddenly the 25-year-old kid from the Bronx found himself advising the American Bar Association as it hurriedly determined what action should be taken on presidential succession.
The result was the 25th amendment, which allows the President to appoint a Vice President whenever that office falls vacant; allows an incapacitated President to step aside temporarily without forfeiting the office; and – this is the part subject to interest today – provides a mechanism whereby the Vice President, upon a majority vote of the Cabinet, may declare the President incapacitated and serve as Acting President until he recovers.