Fifty House Democrats led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) have sponsored a bill that would form a commission to assess President Donald Trump's mental fitness for office, pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Congress can, indeed, create a commission that serves as a substitute to the cabinet for 25th amendment purposes.
Remember that the president can only serve two terms. A VP becoming president is considered to have a full term if they work two years and 1 day. So there’s your metric of when you would want this to happen.
Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office
Nothing in here about a commission. A Congressional majority could just announce the President unfit and kick power over to the VP immediately.
Obviously, Republicans aren’t going to agree with this. Obviously, JD Vance is a fucking hack who would continue the atrocities. That’s why Dems needed to block the 2026 NDAA back in December when they had leverage over the Pentagon’s budget. Now they’ve already rubber stamped the checks and there’s little left to obstruct or apply leverage against.
But this just illustrates why “Forming a Commission” is bullshit. Is this really their plan for 2027? Spend a year fucking around on a vote to form a committee to research a bill to have another vote? So they can maybe hand JD Vance the keys to the White House? Assuming some dissident Fetterman tier Senator doesn’t spike it while drapping himself in an Israeli flag?
There certainly is, you’re just not understanding what role that commission will perform. The commission is the “some other body” that Congress may provide to serve in lieu of the heads of the executive department.
A Congressional majority could just announce the President unfit and kick power over to the VP immediately.
No, actually, they can’t. Incompetence is not an impeachable offense. They would have to hold what is effectively a criminal trial in the Senate. They would have to find him guilty of something beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s the evidentiary standard they would have to meet.
With the 25th, they merely have to indicate they have lost faith in his ability to perform the job. That’s it.
His tweets threatening nuclear war with Iran are not enough to impeach him. He technically has the authority to make those threats. He can’t be impeached for those threats.
Those same tweets are a perfectly valid justification for removing him under the 25th.
“Some other body” is quoted from the 25th Amendment, which empowers Congress not to do the same thing that the Vice President and Cabinet can do but to create “some other body” that can do what the Vice President and Cabinet can do. They could pass a law that empowers Congress to do that, but that would be less likely to pass than passing a law that empowers some committee because Congress has other things to do.
That is not completely accurate:
Congress can, indeed, create a commission that serves as a substitute to the cabinet for 25th amendment purposes.
Doesn’t this mean that Vance would need to approve it as well?
Yes. The 25th explicitly requires the involvement of the VP.
It could be argued that the Speaker of the House could do it if the VP position were vacant, but the 25th does not explicitly consider that situation.
Then it won’t happen. Vance isn’t stupid, he knows he can’t hold maga on his own.
I agree, he likely won’t be able to hold MAGA on his own.
However, it’s also likely that this is his only chance at the presidency. If he comes to that same conclusion, he may very well take his shot.
He’s relatively young. I think he might think he has a shot someday.
So the prize for removing Trump is empowering Vance. Is he more or less likely to nuke Iran?
Much less.
Nobody likes Vance. He was tapped for VP because he posed no apparent threat to 47. He can’t hold the MAGAt personality cult together.
Remember that the president can only serve two terms. A VP becoming president is considered to have a full term if they work two years and 1 day. So there’s your metric of when you would want this to happen.
Wouldn’t that still include at least 6 years and 1 day of Vance?
He’s an asshole and a piece of shit but he seems much more rational than Trump, at the very least.
Nothing in here about a commission. A Congressional majority could just announce the President unfit and kick power over to the VP immediately.
Obviously, Republicans aren’t going to agree with this. Obviously, JD Vance is a fucking hack who would continue the atrocities. That’s why Dems needed to block the 2026 NDAA back in December when they had leverage over the Pentagon’s budget. Now they’ve already rubber stamped the checks and there’s little left to obstruct or apply leverage against.
But this just illustrates why “Forming a Commission” is bullshit. Is this really their plan for 2027? Spend a year fucking around on a vote to form a committee to research a bill to have another vote? So they can maybe hand JD Vance the keys to the White House? Assuming some dissident Fetterman tier Senator doesn’t spike it while drapping himself in an Israeli flag?
Pathetic.
There certainly is, you’re just not understanding what role that commission will perform. The commission is the “some other body” that Congress may provide to serve in lieu of the heads of the executive department.
No, actually, they can’t. Incompetence is not an impeachable offense. They would have to hold what is effectively a criminal trial in the Senate. They would have to find him guilty of something beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s the evidentiary standard they would have to meet.
With the 25th, they merely have to indicate they have lost faith in his ability to perform the job. That’s it.
His tweets threatening nuclear war with Iran are not enough to impeach him. He technically has the authority to make those threats. He can’t be impeached for those threats.
Those same tweets are a perfectly valid justification for removing him under the 25th.
This commission is the “some other body” that Democrats in “Congress may by law provide.”
They don’t need “some other body” because it already empowers Congress.
“Some other body” is quoted from the 25th Amendment, which empowers Congress not to do the same thing that the Vice President and Cabinet can do but to create “some other body” that can do what the Vice President and Cabinet can do. They could pass a law that empowers Congress to do that, but that would be less likely to pass than passing a law that empowers some committee because Congress has other things to do.