Calls to remove U.S. President Donald Trump from office have surged this week over his handling of the war in Iran.
Current Democrat and former Republican members of Congress took to social media after Trump issued a threat to Iran, saying: “A whole civilisation will die tonight”.
By Tuesday afternoon (local time), dozens of sitting Democrats were calling for Trump’s removal through the 25th Amendment.
What exactly is the 25th Amendment... and could it actually be used to kick Trump out?
Context
The U.S. Constitution was amended for the 25th time in 1967, following the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The 25th Amendment provides “for the prompt, orderly, and democratic transfer of executive power” – i.e. to make sure there is always someone to lead the country.
The amendment is broken down into four sections:
- Section 1: If the President dies or resigns, the Vice President automatically fills their position.
- Section 2: If the Vice President’s role becomes vacant, the President must nominate a replacement and Congress must agree to that nomination.
- Section 3: If the President is unable to do their job (such as due to illness) they can temporarily transfer their powers and duties to the Vice President.
- Section 4: The Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet can jointly declare the President unfit for office, transferring their powers to the Vice President. This can happen if the President can’t or won’t step aside.
Historic use
Sections 1, 2, and 3 have all been invoked before.
In 1973, Gerald Ford was appointed Vice President when Spiro Agnew resigned, invoking Section 2.
The following year, Ford was promoted to President when Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, invoking Section 1.
In 2021, Joe Biden invoked Section 3 to transfer power to Kamala Harris for 85 minutes while he underwent a colonoscopy.
Current day
Section 4 has never been invoked. It forces the removal of a sitting President.
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For this to happen, Vice President JD Vance and a majority of the Cabinet (or another group of high level officials) would have to send a written declaration to the president of the Senate and the House Speaker, saying Trump is unable to maintain his powers and perform his duties.
Vance would then immediately assume the role of ‘acting President’.
If that happened, Trump could fight back and argue that he is able to fulfill his responsibilities.
The high-level officials who originally questioned the President’s fitness would then have four days to decide whether they object to him resuming office.
If they do challenge him, it then goes to Congress, which has 21 days to vote on whether the President should be returned to his position.
A two-thirds majority vote by members of both houses would be required to permanently remove the President from office.
Likelihood
While the procedure could technically be invoked, the political reality is that it won’t be.
The current Cabinet are all Trump supporters, and his party, the Republicans, hold a majority in both houses of Congress.
There is also no precedent for it.
Without Vice President Vance and a majority of the Cabinet losing confidence, and with the majority of Republicans in Congress remaining silent on the matter, it remains unlikely the 25th Amendment will be invoked.
Impeachment
One other way Trump could be removed is through a process called impeachment.
An impeachment occurs when the U.S. Congress (both the House and Senate) tries a high-ranking government official for a significant crime or misdemeanour.
The House makes the decision to impeach an official, and the Senate decides if the person should be convicted of the impeachment.
At least two-thirds of Senators need to support a conviction for it to go ahead.
A person is removed from office immediately if they’re convicted.
Trump has already been impeached twice, but was not convicted.
This week, Democrat Representative John Larson said he had filed several articles of impeachment against the President.
Larson’s impeachment is unlikely to proceed far due to one of the reasons it is unlikely the 25th Amendment will be invoked: Republicans control Congress.
