The Democrats’ 25th Amendment Problem

An increasing number of prominent Democrat donors, pundits and elected officials have called for Joe Biden to step down as the Party’s nominee for President. Which begs the question, “If he’s too debilitated to campaign, isn’t he too debilitated to govern?”

To those whose next paycheck doesn’t depend on Joe Biden remaining in office the answer is obviously “YES.”

To that end the 25th Amendment sets forth a process to remove a debilitated President, either temporarily or permanently: Biden could in effect take a health leave by informing the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties would then be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

The Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet could also meet to assess Joe Biden’s ability to govern and by a majority vote issue a written declaration to inform the House and Senate that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President would then immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

In both of those cases Biden could theoretically come back to office. Obviously, if he simply resigns then the Vice President becomes President.

However, those Democrats trying to inveigle Joe Biden to resign to save Democrat prospects in November face one big impediment: Vice President Kamala Harris, who is no more popular than Biden.

And there’s no getting around the plain language of the 25th Amendment, Section 1 which says, “In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.”

And no senior Democrat we know of, including senior African American Democrats, whom Kamala Harris supposedly represents in the Democratic Party coalition, wants that because Harris is no more popular and seen as less articulate than her mentally impaired Boss, Joe Biden.

In the utopian future envisioned by the drafters of the 25th Amendment sober-minded patriots serving in the Cabinet would take the bold and patriotic step of removing a debilitated President. In the Lilliputian reality of the Biden-Harris Cabinet no one is going to do anything.

Unless they can be shamed into action.

To that end principled limited government constitutional conservative Rep. Chip Roy has introduced a resolution calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to convene the Cabinet and declare President Joe Biden as unable to carry out his duties as Commander-in-Chief.

H. RES. 1336 says:

Whereas President Joseph R. Biden has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated his inability to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency, including, among others, the powers and duties of the Commander-in-Chief: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives calls upon Vice President Kamala D. Harris—

(1) to immediately use her powers under section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments in the Cabinet to declare that President Joseph R. Biden is unable to discharge the duties and powers of the office; and

(2) to transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives notice that she will be immediately assuming the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Naturally, Democrats decried Rep. Roy’s resolution as a political stunt, as Chip explained in an op-ed for the Federalist, this about more than politics:

We all saw what happened on the debate stage last week. If the subsequent reports about President Biden’s cognitive state are true — if it is even half as bad as reported — then we are in the exact kind of situation for which the 25th Amendment was drafted, passed, and ratified. This is not just about whether or not one political party should swap out a candidate who cannot win an election. This is about whether or not a man who struggles to form a cohesive sentence should have the nuclear launch codes.

Democrats are indeed in a box of their own making, as Rep. Roy put it, but there’s a way out: Stand up and do the right thing for once, declare Joe Biden incapacitated and make Vice President Kamala Harris Acting President, after all, back in August 2020 the Democrats told us, “Kamala knows how to govern. She knows how to make the hard calls. She’s ready to do this job on day one.”

The Capitol Switchboard is (202-224-3121), call your Representative first thing on Monday to demand he or she cosponsor and support Rep. Chip Roy’s H. RES. 1336.

• 2024 Election

• Donald Trump

• Joe Biden campaign

• Kamala Harris

• 25th Amendment

• Biden health leave

• Presidential disability

• Harris acting president

• Kamala Harris polls

• Rep. Chip Roy

• H. RES. 1336