Lame duck

A lame duck is an elected official who has lost a re-election but continues to hold office in between the time of the election and the time of the inauguration of the successor. Whether officials in this position should refrain from using some or all of their powers is somewhat controversial. The term originated in the 1700s regarding stockbrokers who could not meet their debts. It was transferred to politicians in the 1860s. The term is also used more generally to include elected officals who have chosen not to run for re-election or who are ineligible for re-election.

The phrase "lame duck" has several other related uses:

• A lame duck session is when Congress (or either chamber), in the United States, meets in an even-numbered year following the November general elections to consider various items of business. Some lawmakers who return for this session will not be in the next Congress. Hence, they are informally called "lame duck" elected officials participating in a "lame duck session".

Critics sometimes look askance at lame duck sessions, thinking that elected officials may do things they would not otherwise do if they were planning to face the voters. There has not been, however, academic research documenting that lame duck officials behave much differently than they did previously.

• The Lame Duck Amendment, an informal name for the Twentieth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which establishes some details of presidential succession and changed the dates of the beginning and ending of the terms of elected federal officials, thereby reducing the length of terms of lame duck officials.

A lame duck, in a non-political sense, is a bird which has trouble walking, usually due to astraxaphysis, a crippling leg condition affecting waterfowl.

The lame duck is also a position in tango. See Lame duck (tango).