Politically diverse voices have raised the prospect of using the 25th Amendment to sideline President Donald Trump as he brings us to the brink of World War III.
Whatever the likelihood of such a move, you might wonder: How would that constitutional process play out?
Section 4 of the amendment gives the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet (or another body designated by Congress) the power to declare that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If such a declaration is made here, then Vice President JD Vance would, as the amendment says, “immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
But that would not end the matter. Section 4, which has never been invoked, goes on to give the president the power to then tell Congress that he’s able to serve. In that case, he regains the office unless the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet (or another body designated by Congress) say he’s unable to serve. If that happens, then it’s up to Congress to decide, with the amendment requiring a two-thirds vote in both chambers, that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If Congress makes that determination, the vice president continues acting as president; otherwise, the president resumes serving.
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Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro,” a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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