What is the 25th Amendment and could it be used to remove Biden?
Joe Biden's awkward performance in the presidential debate has triggered nationwide chatter about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. The president alarmed Democrats and Republicans alike as he frequently lost his train of thought, trailed off mid-sentence, and mixed up topics during the televised event. It has only added to the widespread concern about his cognitive decline, prompting calls for the 25th Amendment to be successfully executed for the first time in US history. Section 4 of the amendment allows for the removal of a president who is deemed incapacitated by any kind of illness, injury, or mental impairment.
Here DailyMail.com explains what the Amendment is and how likely Biden could be removed from the White House. What is the 25th Amendment and could it be used to remove Joe Biden from office? Presidents can be removed by either impeachment or through the 25th Amendment. The process of impeachment is triggered when the president is charged for wrongdoing and put on trial. However, the 25th Amendment, which outlines presidential succession, allows for more flexibility.
It is divided into four sections. The first states that the vice president takes over the Oval Office if the president dies or resigns – or is removed. Section 2 states that if the vice president dies or resigns – or is fired – both the House and Senate have to confirm a new vice president. Section 3 makes clear that a president can temporarily delegate his powers to the vice president, and later reclaim them when he - or she - is capable of serving. This is most often invoked if a president is under the influence of a surgical anesthetic for a short period of time.
But Section 4 is the amendment's most controversial part: it is enacted if the vice president and most of Congress agree the president can't do their job. The vice president then becomes acting President. The president can reclaim power, but only if Congress disagrees with the vice president and a majority. But this can only be enacted if the president is deemed incapable of doing their job if they are incapacitated, either mentally or physically. This section of the amendment has never been used to remove a president permanently from his position, but Reagan came close.
Members of Reagan's staff raised concerns about his mental health, describing him as inattentive, distracted, lazy and incapable of performing his by several concerned members of his staff However, his new chief of staff found him capable and Section 4 wasn't used - though he was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's. What did the polls say after the first 2024 presidential debate? An exclusive poll for DailyMail.com found that a clear majority of independent voters believe President Joe Biden should no longer be the Democratic nominee after a car-crash debate with Donald Trump. Some 62 percent said he should be dumped from the ticket.
J.L. Partners polled 805 independent voters immediately after the 90-minute clash, and found that 68 percent said the former president won out over his White House successor. What did people say about Biden's debate performance? The Presidential debate was labeled by Democrat donors 'the worst performance in history.' One donor told POLITICO that his showing was 'so bad that no one will pay attention to Trump's lies ,' and that 'Biden needs to drop out. No question about it.'
A senior Democrat strategist said: 'Biden is about to face a crescendo of calls to step aside. Parties exist to win - this man on the stage with Trump cannot win,' in a damning interview with the New York Times. And former Republican campaign strategist-turned-Democrat Steve Schmidt said: 'Biden lost the country tonight and will not get it back. If Trump is a threat and democracy is on the line, then Biden must step aside.' In the aftermath of the debate, Biden's campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt declared early this morning: 'Of course he's not dropping out.'
Can Joe Biden be replaced? Who could replace him? While it's possible to replace Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, it's complicated by the fact he already has enough delegates to have won the nomination. He has 3,894 pledged delegates and it only takes 1,976 to be the nominee. Under party rules, delegates allocated to a candidate based on their primary wins are bound to their candidate on the first ballot at the convention. And that first ballot usually ends up with a nominee. So legally Biden's delegates have to vote for him.
However, if Biden were to drop out that would mean the nomination would be decided on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in August. His delegates would become 'uncommitted' and able to vote for any candidate they liked. Vice President Kamala Harris would not automatically be the nominee nor would she have ownership of Biden's delegates because she was not on any primary ballots. Biden was. But she would be the likely favorite given her status as his running mate.
Democrats, however, could choose any contender including governors such as Gavin Newsom of California, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. Or one of the people who ran in 2020: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. If Biden stepped down, the party would have to hold a series of votes among the delegates until one person got the 1,976 to be the nominee. This would likely result in a massive floor fight for votes that would take place over multiple days and dominate news coverage.
