The The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution deals with primary authority in the event of assassination or removal, and was ratified in 1967, following the assassination of John F Kennedy.
What does the 25th Amendment say?
It is in four sections, all dealing with the president leaving office during his or her elected term.
The first section states that the vice-president will take over the Oval Office if the president dies or resigns – or is removed – something that the Clearly state original basis.
Presidents can undoubtedly be removed with impeachment, a feature of the foundation from the beginning. They can also be removed during the 25th Amendment – with more below.
Section II states that if the vice-president dies, or resigns – or is fired – the House and Senate must declare a new vice-president. Until 1967, the leaders of vice-presidents could change mid-term on their own if they got the vice-president to resign – not something that really happened, but was possible in principle.
Section III makes clear that a president can delegate his or her powers to the vice-president, and restore them when he or she is able to serve. This is usually called if a president is under the influence of short-term anesthetic surgery.
Section IV is the most controversial part of the change: it describes how the president can be ousted if he is incompetent and is not left alone.
The vice-president and ‘majority of the chief executives of the executive departments or of any other body conferred by Congress in accordance with the law’ must write to both presidents pro tempore of the Senate and Speaker of the House, stating that ‘the President may not exercise the powers and duties of his office. ‘
The term chief executive officers of the executive departments would normally mean cabinet secretaries.
So at least eight of the top 15 cabinet members along with the vice president must agree that a president should be removed before any plan can move forward.
Contacting the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate pro tempore the act that immediately elevates the vice president to the role of ‘acting president’.
The depressed president can oppose the claim, giving cup leaders four days without the blood of their claims to be reaffirmed to the House and Senate.
Congress then has two days to call – if it is not already in session – and another 21 days to vote on whether the president is unable to attend. A two-thirds majority in every household must make that decision.
As soon as there is a two-thirds majority vote, the president shall lose his powers and be removed, and the vice-president shall cease to act and be sworn in as president.
But if 21 days of debate and votes end without a two-thirds majority, the president regains his powers.
What could happen to inspire the 25th Amendment?
Vice President Mike Pence and eight of the 15 ‘prime’ cabinet members had to agree to tell Congress that President Donald Trump was incapable of running the country.
That body is made up of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Services. Humanities, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Education, Veterans Affairs Secretary and Secretary of Homeland Security.
His formal notice would go to the Speaker of the House and, in the Chamber, to the ‘pro tempore president’, the highest member of the Senate. As soon as the letter was sent, Pence would become acting president. ‘
Alternatively, Congress could establish its own procedure for deciding whether it is appropriate for a position – perhaps a commission, or a joint committee. Penny still had to agree with the decision and then formally write to the Speaker and the pro tempore president.
Or another possibility is that the pool of ‘chief executives’ is thought to be larger than 15 and a majority of that group calls Trump incompetent.
What if Trump does not agree?
If Trump says he is capable of holding office, he would write to the Speaker of the House and the pro-temporal president of the Senate within four days, setting up three weeks of intense debate in both houses of Congress.
Trump would be ousted if a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate agreed with Pence and his cabal.
If both of the two chambers fell close to that mark, Trump would retain his powers and apparently start home wholesale, burning pennies and replacing cabinet members. rude.
Are there gaps?
The 25th Amendment allows Congress to appoint its own panel to assess the president rather than rely on the cabinet – the men and women who work closest to Trump – to co-opt -decide on a course of action.
He points out that some ‘other body as Congress may have provided’ could play that role, but Pence would still have to agree with any decision that the head- able to sit to perform his duties.
That commission could include anyone from primary school historians to psychologists, who is tasked with assessing the president’s suitability for a position.
Another gap is that he does not confirm the need for the cabinet to agree, but says that the ‘chief officers’ of the departments are needed. That term is defined in the constitution. In some areas legislation reflects not only the secretary but deputy representatives and even subscribers as ‘chief officers’, so many more people could be called in. to Trump’s fitness assessment.
But Trump’s cabinet has several ‘acting’ cabinet officials – and it’s unclear if they could play a part in removing him.
Could Trump burn a penny if he rebelled?
Yes, in principle. If Trump were to melt a whiff of trouble – if Pence and a cabal of cabinet members, or Pence and a panel convened by Congress looked ready to be judged incompetently – he could be the vice president eliminate it with a stroke to stop the process.
But installing a more loyal VP could be a problem as the 25th Amendment introduces its own poison pill: Both houses of Congress must vote to approve a new vice president .
That means Trump would find himself opposed to voting the same Congress on his suitability for office, if the process did not open in the weeks before a new Congress.
Theoretically, a Democratic-controlled Congress could make life much more difficult for the president if he came to power in the midst of the constitutional crisis.
One situation seems to have stumped major historians, however: Firing Pence before the process began, and then leaving the vice president blank, would not give Congress a practical route. . That would be a constitutional crisis for him.
Is there a desert for this?
No. Only Section III, the voluntary surrender of major powers, has ever been used – and very soon.
In December 1978, President Jimmy Carter considered a Section III invasion when considering a surgical procedure to remove hemorrhoids.
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush voluntarily relinquished their powers while undergoing anesthetic procedures.
Section IV has never been invoked, although there are claims that Ronald Reagan’s chief executive, Donald Regan, told his agent Howard Baker in 1987 that he should be willing to interrupted because Reagan was insensitive and unstable.
The PBS documentary ‘American Experience’ reports how Baker and his team looked closely at Reagan for signs of incompetence at their first meeting and concluded that he was in good control of himself.