On April 14, House Democrats introduced a bill proposing the creation of a commission to assess whether Trump is fit to remain in office. The bill is led by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and backed by 50 Democratic cosponsors. In a press release, Raskin said that “We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation.”
The 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1967, was introduced after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The Amendment was created to clarify the process of presidential succession to ensure that the US always has a functioning president and vice president, including specifying the terms for declaring a president unable to fulfill their duties.
Its first use after ratification occurred in 1973 when President Richard Nixon nominated Congressman Gerald R. Ford to replace the resigning Vice President Spiro Agnew. The 25th Amendment would be used again less than a year later when Vice President Ford became president following Nixon’s resignation and nominated Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vice president position. Presidents have also invoked Section 3 of the Amendment, which deals with circumstances in which the president is unable to perform their job. This section has been used for medical procedures, especially those using anesthesia, such as in 2021, when President Joe Biden underwent a colonoscopy.
But Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which deals with the involuntary removal of a president, has never been invoked. Section 4 allows the vice president and either a majority of the president’s cabinet or another unspecified body designated by Congress to declare the president unable to discharge their duties. Social Studies teacher Brian Cook, who teaches AP United States Government and Politics in the Upper School, explains that the specific bill introduced by Raskin calls for the establishment of one of these other bodies – specifically, a permanent commission on presidential fitness.
Mr. Cook notes that the bill is complicated because determining Trump’s ability to perform his job is not “clear cut.” He explains that compared to a hypothetical situation where the president is clearly incapacitated – such as being unlikely to regain consciousness after a heart attack – invoking the 25th Amendment over supposed cognitive decline is a much different question: “The concern that Trump is making erratic decisions is very speculative and requires more judgement.”
The bill also has political complexities. In order for the bill to pass, it must be approved by Vice President JD Vance and two-thirds of Congress. This appears unlikely given the Republican majority in Congress and Vance’s loyalty to President Trump.
Some Congressional Democrats tried to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment on President Trump after the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. But these calls resulted in nothing as not enough Republican senators backed the charges to reach the two-thirds majority. Scott Anderson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, warns of a similar situation today as Republicans hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate.
Trump’s April 7 post to Truth Social, where he said that “‘A whole civilization will die… never to be brought back again’” if Iran did not meet his demands to open the Strait of Hormuz, sparked backlash and claims of cognitive decline from Democrats and an increasing number of conservatives. Former US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who supported Trump up until recently, also called for invoking the 25th Amendment in response to Trump’s post, writing “We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.” But although Trump’s cognitive capacity has been a prominent concern for members of both parties, the bill is still predicted to be unsuccessful.
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