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Invoking The 25th Amendment Is Constitutional — And Democrats’ Best Hope
The Federalist ^ | July 5, 2024 | Margot Cleveland

Posted on 07/05/2024 8:58:48 AM PDT by Reno89519

The Democrats’ public struggle session over what to do with the problem of Joe Biden must end. They know, we know, and, most terrifyingly, America’s enemies know that our commander-in-chief is mentally incompetent. As such, the answer is clear, and the Constitution provides it: Joe Biden must be removed from office and the vice president sworn in as president.

The only (proper) question for Biden and his party is whether the removal will be voluntary, under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment, or forced, under Section 4. Will Biden transmit “his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” to Congress? Or will the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet inform Congress of President Biden’s incapacity and remove him from office?

A day or two to decide is reasonable. A week stretches the bounds. But we are now at the point where the inaction by Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden’s Cabinet constitutes a violation of their oath of office. They solemnly swore they would “bear true faith and allegiance” to the Constitution and that they would “faithfully discharge the duties of the office.” That oath mandates they provide Congress “their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office…”

There is no wiggle room. No “wait and see” if the president can convince the public he is fit for office, whether by choreographed appearances or edited prime-time interviews. Neither spin nor conspiracy theories can alter what the world saw during the debate: Biden’s mental incapacity.

Whether caused by age, dementia, or Alzheimer’s matters not. The president of the United States cannot discharge his duties if he lacks lucidity for even a fraction of the day. The commander-in-chief must be able to command the executive branch 24-7.

...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 25thamendment; biden; dementiajoe; harris
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To: hanamizu

Once you carefully read the 25th amendment you quickly realize it is an administrative nightmare if the sitting President resists at all.

There are no good answers on this one—wouldn’t even know how to start to fix it.


21 posted on 07/05/2024 9:39:16 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: Alberta's Child

Good point.

They should have just said if the President objects the process is over—full stop.


22 posted on 07/05/2024 9:40:28 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: Reno89519

This should be interesting, since Kamala Harris is not a natural born citizen of the US. Unlike McCain, she was born in Oakland, but not of US citizen parents. Her father divorced her mother and matriculated thru the US immigration program to become a naturalized US citizen, but Harris’s mother settled for becoming a permanent US resident, that does not allow conferring US citizenship. So how, exactly, does Kamala qualify as a natural born US citizen?


23 posted on 07/05/2024 9:55:02 AM PDT by RideForever (Damn, another dangling par .....)
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To: Reno89519

Biden has never actually been the President in the sense that he has been calling the shots. So who has been pulling the strings the past 3 years? As Biden became more feeble, did Dr. Jill and Hunter become more “uppity”, trying to usurp the puppetmasters? Is that why they are starting to turn on him?


24 posted on 07/05/2024 10:12:23 AM PDT by Tipllub
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To: pas

I would imagine that our enemies probably throw everyone who announces for president in America under a microscope.


25 posted on 07/05/2024 10:34:55 AM PDT by Jean2
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To: Mathews

HOW MANY PRE-PRINTED and already filled in ballots are they going to have to replace???


26 posted on 07/05/2024 10:48:32 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: RideForever

SHE NEVER WAS ELIGIBLE. NOT EVER.

THE DEMS WENT AHEAD & PUSHED THEIR 2nd NOT ELIGIBLE PERSON INTO THE WHITE HOUSE.

OBAMA was the FIRST.


27 posted on 07/05/2024 10:51:17 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: Reno89519

Joe obviously didn’t lose his marbles just this minute, which means he has been mentally deficient for an uncertain amount of time while a sitting POTUS. Which means if he gets 25th Amendmented, they’ve given the GOP the fuel to have the legitimacy of every decision he has made questioned, up to and including when he was sworn in.


28 posted on 07/05/2024 10:52:43 AM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: Reno89519

kamala as President is just as bad as biden as President!

The Dims did this on purpose when they chose her as Vice President!

Phooey to all of them!


29 posted on 07/05/2024 10:53:42 AM PDT by Honorary Serb
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To: Reno89519

This is the quintessential 25A moment. Kamala must get off her knees long enough to perform her Constitutional duty.


30 posted on 07/05/2024 10:57:35 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's mone)
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To: RideForever
> So how, exactly, does Kamala qualify as a natural born US citizen?

Because nobody called her on lacking the same requirement to become VP.. if no one has standing to officially bring the question and no one or no body has the authority to receive it than the natural born clause becomes a de facto nullity. Which it stays until some one manages to de jure beat de facto. I’d love to see that happen but I don’t know how either. But unilateral self enforcement , while the other side blissfully ignores the issue, is a self defeating strategy.

31 posted on 07/05/2024 11:01:57 AM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Biden/Harris events are called dodo ops)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Yes


32 posted on 07/05/2024 11:14:09 AM PDT by Reno89519 (I'll go out on a limb: Trump & Gabbard 2024 or Trump & Sanders 2024)
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To: cgbg
> Once you carefully read the 25th amendment you quickly realize it is an administrative nightmare if the sitting President resists at all.

Which it should be, otherwise it’s the ‘easy coup’ amendment. The powers behind the two cases foremost in Framers minds, Wilson and FDR, would have wanted to oppose, but could their guy do so in person and in public? To succeed against opposition that opposition must be politically incompetent. To oppose removal the opposition should need to publicly demonstrate competence.

And it’s worth pointing out that HIPAA is completely pre-empted by the constitutional process of the 25th. The People and their Representatives, judging the fitness or lack of their Executive, have the need and right to know any and all remotely relevant medical details. No way you can permit privacy for any PC concerns without letting stuff like neurosyphilis be ignored. Someone sufficiently embarrassed can always just stop objecting. Not that the left is known to suffer much from shame.

GOP role here is limited. It can’t trigger Joe’s removal. What it can and should do is make the Democrats, collectively, pay a political price for covering up any possible need for the 25th. And the first lesson of Watergate was that the coverup can be worse than the crime. Just ask Hillary; she was there. Just ask Joe; if he can remember. The right weren’t shocked by the debate, but on the left many voters, officials and media seemed shocked and were mad they’d not been forewarned. Hold Kamala, the 25th’s designated Cabinet POTUS watchers, their party apparatus and the media responsible for dereliction of duty. 25th empowers Congress to adjust its rules. House can’t trigger removal, but it can say recent events question the adequacy of those rules and call hearings to investigate what Joe’s watchers knew and when they knew it. The scandal, if any, is bigger than Joe. If present, flushing just Joe shouldn’t end it.

33 posted on 07/05/2024 12:00:20 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Biden/Harris events are called dodo ops)
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To: Reno89519
The best move is to use Mayor Pete to threaten the 25th on Joe Biden on national TV.

Hunter and Jill will be forced to recognize that Joe will not have able to hang on. The best they can negotiate for is a presidential library to "secure Joe's legacy".

34 posted on 07/05/2024 12:04:01 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: JohnBovenmyer

“on the left many voters, officials and media seemed shocked and were mad they’d not been forewarned.”

The problem is they were lying.

They knew.

They have known for years.

As Gutfield said the only reason they are “shocked” and “mad” is that even the cretins out there with sub 80 IQs now know as well.

Biden was non compos mentis in 2020 and they knew it.


35 posted on 07/05/2024 12:04:40 PM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: cgbg

Yes, Rats with brains knew. But rats without brains hadn’t know before and were their largest voting block. Their brainless trust had been their chief political asset. That trust’s removal leaves many too dazed to vote and some shifting to the suddenly more trustworthy Trump.


36 posted on 07/05/2024 12:14:38 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Biden/Harris events are called dodo ops)
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To: JohnBovenmyer

Notice that the 25th amendment was not designed to bail out politicians who spent four years covering up for their incapacitated President.

It was designed to deal with new information that required immediate action.


37 posted on 07/05/2024 12:26:05 PM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: cgbg

As I understand it the European press and comedians have been making fun of dotty Joe’s gaffes for three years now.


38 posted on 07/05/2024 12:27:10 PM PDT by TalBlack (I We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: Reno89519
...the Constitution provides it: Joe Biden must be removed from office and the vice president sworn in as president. The only (proper) question for Biden and his party is whether the removal will be voluntary, under Section 3 of the 25th Amendment, or forced, under Section 4.

Where Cleveland is wrong is that invoking the 25th amendment doesn't "remove" the President from office and the Vice President is not "sworn in as President."

The Vice President becomes "Acting President" for as long as the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office. Biden could remain in the White House until he either resigns or his term ends, or Democrats support impeaching him and removing him from office for refusing to leave on his own.

It might actually be in the Democrats interest to support impeaching and removing Biden because it would make Harris a full-fledged President and not an Acting President. The downside is that the Senate would be without a tie-breaking vote for as long as the Vice Presidency remains vacant. I see no upside to the Republicans supporting a Vice President nomination at this point in the term, which means they will probably go along with it.

-PJ

39 posted on 07/05/2024 12:31:58 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: cgbg

Odd given both Wilson and FDR were disabled a long time. Although maybe FDR’s mind wasn’t failing so much as the rest of him. 25th does allow some tweaking of the rules. It should look into that in future post Trumpslide.


40 posted on 07/05/2024 1:53:40 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Biden/Harris events are called dodo ops)
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