The 25th Amendment Debate: Should Biden Be Removed from Office?
The 25th amendment of the Constitution is summarized to “provide the procedures for replacing the president or vice president in the event of death, removal, resignation, or incapacitation” according to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute. In other words, the main function of the amendment is to outline the policies for presidential succession in the case of situations where the president is unable to perform their duties. The 25th amendment of the Constitution was not only proven to be useful but also highly practical in solving real issues in America. It prevented and limited the potential for a constitutional crisis a number of times in our country’s history. In particular, John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, not only agreed to be the acting president after the former president William Henry Harrison died, but claimed that he was the president, serving from 1841-1845. He didn’t just act like the caretaker of the office but decided to fully exercise the powers of the office. This eventually led to several organizations irritated about this positioning; Furthermore, this led to not only his whole party repudiating his actions, but his whole cabinet resigning except for Secretary of State Daniel Webster, showing how much US citizens and cabinet members rejected the idea of him staying in office. Therefore, in February 10, 1967, the 25th amendment of the Constitution was finally established to combat any conflict regarding the procedures for presidential succession in the future.
Taking the 25th amendment into consideration when discussing the topic of whether or not this amendment should be invoked with Biden’s current presidency remains a question and an ongoing debate among opponents and proponents. On one side, the proponents who want to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Biden from office argue that since he has dropped out of the presidential race, this action serves as Biden admitting that he is unable to fulfill the regular duties of the President of the United States. On the other hand, the opponents who state that the 25th amendment should not be invoked argue that President Biden has to be the one that directly admits to being unable to serve as a US President anymore and must step down himself. Ultimately, whether or not the 25th amendment should be invoked depends on how one interprets the amendment itself, making this a complex political issue that hinges on various perspectives on both sides.
The proponents main argument to remove Biden from office is because President Biden has stepped down from the presidential race even though he is eligible for one more term, he is not capable to be the president of the United States currently. They state that due to him dropping out of the presidential race, he is openly acknowledging their incapability to serve the country further, regardless of whether or not the president acknowledges his incapability to further serve as president. Rep. Nancy Mace, the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, further continues this thought by stating “If the reason Biden is dropping out of the election is that his mental equity and cognitive abilities are on the decline, then who is going to be running the country for the next six months?”. She elaborates on the fact that since Biden dropped out of the presidential race due to his mental health diminishing over time, who would make the important decisions that U.S. presidents make in the 6 months time before the election of a new president? Additionally, backing up her statement of Biden's mental health decline, there have been many cases of this. There were several instances of president Biden struggling to stay focused in situations demanding attention and would often stare blankly, out of focus, and would move slowly around the room. One instance is shown when shorter staircases to were implemented for the president to board the Air Force One more easily while having several aids guiding him up the stairs. Another instance is shown when despite his busy schedule as the President of the United States, Biden’s advisors have implemented several recovery stretches which provide the president extended days or long weekends of rest after extensive traveling by plane. She further asks the question of why not implement the 25th amendment to forcefully remove Biden from office and give the position of president to a more capable candidate, which according to the 25th amendment Section 1, would establish the Vice President to be the newly appointed president. Furthermore, according to the 4th section of the 25th amendment, this section functions to “authorize the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet or Congress to decide if the president is unable to perform their duties” which would be implemented in order to force the president out of office by majority vote of the president’s cabinet or Congress.
On the other hand, the opponents who believe that the 25th amendment should not be invoked to remove Biden from office assert that the 25th amendment is applied when the president is clearly unable to perform the presidential duties due to their physical or mental incapabilities. But even though there have been instances of President Biden having slight incapabilities both mentally and physically, there is no clear evidence showing that President Biden cannot fulfill the collective duties of being the President of the United States. They further claim that unless there is undeniable evidence of President Biden being completely unable to further serve our country as president, using the 25th amendment to remove him from office is unjustifiable and a rash decision.
