lame duck

n.

1. 1. An elected officeholder or group continuing in office during the period between failure to win an election and the inauguration of a successor.
   2. An officeholder who has chosen not to run for reelection or is ineligible for reelection.
2. An ineffective person; a weakling.

lame-duck lame'-duck' (lām'dŭk') adj.

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An elected officeholder whose term of office has not yet expired but who has failed to be re-elected and therefore cannot garner much political support for initiatives. For example, You can't expect a lame duck President to get much accomplished; he's only got a month left in office. This expression originated in the 1700s and then meant a stockbroker who did not meet his debts. It was transferred to officeholders in the 1860s. The Lame Duck Amendment, 20th to the U.S. Constitution, calls for Congress and each new President to take office in January instead of March (as before), thereby eliminating the lame-duck session of Congress.

American term for a person, legislature, or administration that continues to hold office after losing an election.

The practice in the United States of holding presidential elections in November, with the winner taking office only in January (originally in March), means there are often lame duck presidents. Without a mandate the power to make decisions is undermined, and it becomes easier for opponents of measures to utilize delaying tactics, knowing that the President will soon be out of office.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

An elected official, who is to be followed by another, during the period of time between the election and the date that the successor will fill the post.

The term lame duck generally describes one who holds power when that power is certain to end in the near future. In the United States, when an elected official loses an election, that official is called a lame duck for the remainder of his or her stay in office. The term lame duck can apply to any person with decision-making powers, but it is usually refers to presidents, governors, and state and federal legislators.

When a legislature assembles between election day and the day that new legislators assume office, the meeting is called a lame-duck session. On the federal level, under the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Senate and the House of Representatives must convene on January 3 each year. Incoming legislators assume office that day, and outgoing legislators leave office that day. Thus, from the day after election day in November until late December, retiring and defeated legislators have time to pass more legislation.

Legislatures do not have to conduct lame-duck sessions. In fact, if many of their members will be new in the next legislative session, the idea of their defeated lawmakers voting on legislation may be criticized by the public— especially by those who voted for the incoming legislators. The issue of whether to conduct a session between mid-November and early January is usually decided by a vote of the legislators in office during the last session before the election. The legislature may elect to reconvene on a certain date, to adjourn at the call of the chair of either house or both houses, or to adjourn sine die (without planning a day to reconvene). Also, a lame-duck president or governor has the power to call a lame-duck session.

Lame-duck sessions may be called to pass emergency legislation for the immediate benefit or protection of the public during November or December. They also may be conducted for political purposes. For example, if a certain party stands to lose the presidency or governorship and seats in the new legislature, that party may seek to push through a few last pieces of legislation. Thus, lame-duck sessions can spawn hastily written legislation, and the finished product may be of dubious quality.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), also known as Superfund (42 U.S.C.A. § 9601 et seq.), is a piece of lame-duck legislation. This federal statute, which regulates the cleanup of toxic waste sites, was hurriedly passed by a lame-duck Congress and signed by lame-duck president Jimmy Carter in December 1980. Congress crafted the statute with virtually no debate and under rules that allowed for no amendments. CERCLA is regarded as problem ridden by persons on all sides of the environmental debate.

See: environmental law.

A person who has defaulted on his or her debts or has gone bankrupted due to the stock market. The financial use of the term is most commonly used in Europe.

Investopedia Says:
A trader or investor who makes poor trades and ends up with heavy losses over time would be considered a lame duck. Often, if a trader goes bankrupt, it is not the result of one bad trade but a long string of them - such a trader is called a lame duck because he or her is ineffective as a trader. (The term  lame duck also refers to a politician who has chosen not to seek re-election, is ineligible to run for office again or has lost an election but is still in office until the election winner takes control of the office. The politician is considered a lame duck as he or she is not accountable to the constituency he or she represents.)

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A public official or administration serving out a term in office after having been defeated for reelection or when not seeking reelection.

For a list of words related to lame duck, see:

• Politicians and Activists - lame duck: officeholder who has been defeated in bid for reelection, during interval before inauguration of successor
• Behavior or Personality

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