25th Amendment

How Donald Trump Can Be Removed From Power Without Being Impeached

... crisis. "You would see the emergence of factionalism within the government. It's an incredibly powerful tool but it has the potential for spectacular levels of blowback.". The operative part of the 25 th Amendment is Section 4. It says: "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.". Trump's national security adviser Mike Flynn reported to NSA. Experts have already said impeachment is unlikely to be a threat for Mr Trump, because of the strong position in which he has put the Republican Party. Assistant professor Rebecca Thorpe, a political scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, previously told The Independent: "Given Trump’s numerous financial conflicts of ...

Will It Soon Be Donald Trump Vs. Mike Pence

... still feels compelled to bring up his former opponent. "We had Hillary Clinton give Russia 20 percent of the uranium in our country," he said. "You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons, and other things. Like, lots of things are done with uranium, including some bad things. Nobody talks about that.". He's unintelligible and wrong, but his supporters hear: Hillary Clinton gave away uranium. (By the way, during her tenure at State, a sale of a Canadian company with mines in the United States was approved. The sale was to Russian oligarchs. Yes, it's bad to give Russians a strategic boost, Mr. President.). Again bringing up Clinton, Trump said at one point, "Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember? With the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks. Here, take a look. He looked at her like, 'What the hell is she doing with that cheap plastic button?' Hillary Clinton. That was the reset. Remember it said 'Reset'? Now if I do that oh, I'm a bad guy.". Huh? He does want to do a sort of reset, in fact. The critique makes little sense other than as a critique of her prop, but ...

The Fatal Flaw Of The 25th Amendment Opinion

... by the amendment leaves the decision to the vice president and a so-far-undefined body created by Congress. This body needs to be determined. I'm exploring legislation that would designate that "other body" to be composed of a majority of former presidents and vice presidents to be a part of that deliberation. This group of people understands the pressures of the office and what's necessary to discharge the responsibilities. Further, they all won national elections and were tested by actually discharging the responsibilities. Regardless of what recommendations people may have to clarify and improve the process, it's appropriate that we revisit it now. The most important position in the world needs to perform seamlessly. When there are serious questions about the ability of the president to fulfill his or her constitutional responsibilities, there should be a clear path forward for an orderly transition of power. Let's mark the anniversary of the 25 th Amendment and do our duty to the American people by bringing it ...

The 25th Amendment At 50 And What Happens If The President Can't Do His Job

... suggestions, but it strove to address his top two concerns, as the magazine summed up the week of its ratification. Under the amendment, an incapacitated Chief Executive can himself declare in writing that he is unable to continue in office, and the Vice President can take over—at least temporarily. If an ailing President is unable or unwilling to step aside voluntarily, the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet can send a written statement to Congress declaring that the President is incapable of holding office. If the President were to challenge such a resolution, Congress itself would vote on the question. The amendment also authorizes the President to appoint, and Congress to confirm, a new Vice President if a vacancy occurs in that office. The four sections of the amendment deal with four possible situations in which the line of succession would need to be put into play. First, if the President dies or resigns, the VP takes over. Second, if there is no VP for one reason or another, the President nominates a new one, who has to be confirmed by Congress. Third, if the President declares that he cannot fulfill his duties for some period of time, the ...

Happy 50th Birthday To The 25th Amendment To The Constitution

... two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office. Pretty great, huh? Definitely a vast improvement on what the Constitution originally offered, in terms of guidance. Now, there’s one part of the amendment that’s never been invoked: Section 4. That’s the part where the vice president and “a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide” may ― if their judgment leads them to make the decision ― let Congress know that the president is unable to perform the duties of his office. As you can see from the text above, this might touch off a back-and-forth between the president and the vice president, all of which could end up with Congress making the final decision about whether the president should be removed. What sort of impairment would lead to an invocation of Section 4? The amendment is rather vague ...

America's Best Hope May Be Section 4

... little burst of constitutional scholarship. — Wassmann Foundation (@wassmannarts) January 25, 2017. As Donald Trump creates a phantom audience, illusory voters, and sinks into paranoia over “fake news,” there’s a big problem: who is going to put Trumpy in the corner. Donald Trump is either lying  or. One might argue that he is not lying because he is delusional — but if that is so, doesn’t that justify his immediate removal based on mental incapacitation as stated in Section 4 of the 25 th Amendment. There’s a bit of a problem with Trump and the 25 th. First, there’s Section 3. That’s the part where the president himself can dash off a note to Congress saying he no longer feels up to the task of throwing a blanket of silence over executive agencies and humiliating Mexican officials. That seems … unlikely. Then there’s Section 4. That’s the part where the vice president, along with a majority of cabinet officials, can hand the president a time out and everyone slides over one chair. The option has been there ever since the 25 th Amendment ticked over the magic number of states in 1967, but it’s never been invoked. Mike Pence pulling that string might ...

No, Trump Won’t Be Removed From Office With The 25th Amendment

... for any reason relevant to their ability to perform the job advanced by the vice president and Cabinet. Which brings us to Donald Trump. A man who offers many reasons. He’s wildly unpredictable if not outright unstable. He’s got potential, extensively documented conflicts of interest out the wazoo. He shows no understanding of policy and lord only knows about the Russia stuff. The list of possible justifications is long and will only grow over the course of his presidency. But everything wrong with Trump the president was also wrong with Trump the candidate. Mike Pence, the Cabinet Trump has nominated, and the Republican Party, which would need to overwhelmingly back Trump’s removal should he contest it, have all been willing to ignore Trump’s issues thus far. Or they’ve signed up for them. Nothing short of unambiguous, raving ...

Neither Impeachment Nor 25th Amendment Required

... and Lindsay Graham (R-SC). They could be deciding votes as to whether to subpoena his tax records in conjunction with investigating Russian collusion with Trump. The so-called President has said both that he knows Putin well—to the point where Putin supposedly confided in him years ago his lack of respect for Obama—and that he had never met or spoken to him. His son, Don, Jr., claimed a lot of Russian money in Trump enterprises whereas Daddy just said the opposite. Senate committees investigating the Russian connections may very well decide, therefore, that they need to see Trump’s taxes to understand the links. The FBI will have to do so. There is no answer the Trumps can provide that has any more credibility that what they have already said that is self-contradictory. Thus, no extraordinary action is necessary to have Trump remove himself from office. No hearings or ...

Democrats Invoke 25th Amendment, Question Trump's Mental Health

... and it irks me. That’s like me saying someone has heart problems by just seeing them on a TV show. You need to see the patient, examine them, take blood and perform an ECG. You can’t diagnose a heart attack by someone saying they have chest pain on TV. Psychiatry is the same.”. Dr. Emrani said he does not want people to “belittle mental illness because they have a political agenda,” adding, “psychiatric name-calling and bullying is against their professional code. They should be exposed for what they are.” He added, “I can guarantee an overwhelming majority of them voted against Trump.”. He referred to an article published by the New York Times about 35 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers who signed a petition to diagnose Trump from afar. They wrote that “the grave emotional ...

Increasing Talk Of Using 25th Amendment To Strip Trump Of Power

... the Senate, the vice president assumes the duties of the presidency. Unlike impeachment, the president remains the president although without any powers and the vice president is given the title of "Acting president.' And unlike impeachment, there are no hearings in Congress. Once the House and the Senate receive the written declaration, the vice president automatically assumes the duties of the office of the president. This provision has never been used although it was discussed in the latter years of the Reagan administration. Article 4 has a serious flaw. Article 4 envisages the situation where the president is obviously so incapacitated he cannot continue to function. But what if a president is conscious and disagrees with the decision of the vice president and the majority of the cabinet? Anyone who thinks Trump would go along with such a move ...