The Framers were not specific enough which is why we have the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment was adopted in 1967.
The original terminology in the constitution is “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”
25th was written to clarify ambiguity on whether the VP actually becomes the President when the President dies, or remains the VP with the granted powers of the President. Before this we had periods of time where there was not a VP after succession.
Andrew Johnson took over as President after Lincoln was assassinated and we had no VP for nearly 4 years. Then... Johnson was impeached! He wasn’t successfully removed, but if he had been then the Senate President pro tempore would have become President.
Since both the original wording and the 25th are worded with “inability to perform” the duties of President, I could see our crazy dem leaders claiming “reee Trump has always been incompetent and can’t lead this country, therefore we are invoking 25th”. They are stupid, but probably not that stupid. Not only does he have a silent majority of popular support, but the SCOTUS would slap that shit down.
They’ll still do it though, since it’s all just theater.
The Framers were not specific enough which is why we have the 25th Amendment. The 25th Amendment was adopted in 1967.
The original terminology in the constitution is “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”
25th was written to clarify ambiguity on whether the VP actually becomes the President when the President dies, or remains the VP with the granted powers of the President. Before this we had periods of time where there was not a VP after succession.
Andrew Johnson took over as President after Lincoln was assassinated and we had no VP for nearly 4 years. Then... Johnson was impeached! He wasn’t successfully removed, but if he had been then the Senate President pro tempore would have become President.
Since both the original wording and the 25th are worded with “inability to perform” the duties of President, I could see our crazy dem leaders claiming “reee Trump has always been incompetent and can’t lead this country, therefore we are invoking 25th”. They are stupid, but probably not that stupid. Not only does he have a silent majority of popular support, but the SCOTUS would slap that shit down.
They’ll still do it though, since it’s all just theater.