April 14, 2026
The 25th Amendment has been a hot topic recently. Of course the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution allows for the President of the United States to be removed from office because he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
The Constitution says the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet are responsible for making the determination that the president is unfit. But the 25th Amendment says another group can be involved in that decision too – a group that’s never been formed in the nearly 60 years the 25th Amendment has been around.
But now – House Democrats are proposing a way for that group to exist.
If you keep reading section four of the 25th Amendment it says – the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments – meaning the cabinet can make the determination that the president is unfit– *or* the vice president and such other body as congress may by law provide.
House Democrats are proposing to form that body. The ranking member of the House judiciary committee Representative Jamie Raskin along with 50 Democratic co-sponsors introduced legislation today to form the commission on presidential capacity to discharge the powers and duties of office. Representative Raskin this commission would be another option for the vice president in the event of a 25th Amendment crisis.
Before I tell you what this bill says the commission would be able to do – and you’re going to want to hear this – you need to know – because of the way this bill is written the commission will be bipartisan and will not allow any sitting elected officials, federal employees or active duty or reserve military members to participate. The bill says the Democratic and Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate will each select four former presidents, vice presidents attorneys general, surgeons general, secretaries of state, defense or treasury to serve on the commission. Then the Democratic and Republican leaders in both the House and the Senate will each select four physicians and four psychiatrists to serve on the commission. That’s a total of 16 members. The bill says the 16 appointed members will select a 17th member to act as the chair of the commission. Initially, once selected these 16 appointed members will serve until January 1 of 2031 and after that they will serve a four-year term.
So what will this commission do? Now – that’s the interesting part. The bill says – as I mentioned, that the vice president can work with this commission to establish the president is unfit to continue in office. But in the case of an emergency the bill also establishes expedited procedures for congress to pass a separate bill to give the commission the power to conduct an examination of the president of the United States to conclude – “physical illness or disability, mental illness or deficiency, alcohol or drug use, or any other condition or contingency rendering the president unable to execute the powers and duties of the office of president.” The bill says of course the president in question can refuse the exam – but that refusal will be taken into consideration and the commission will conduct a review of the president’s behavior and will still give a determination whether or not he’s fit. If the majority of the commission and the VP says the president is incapacitated – the 25th Amendment and this new bill says the VP will immediately assume the role as acting president. If the VP disagrees with the commission’s determination, the VP must provide a written report to congress about why.
So – does this bill have a chance of passing? Right now – probably not. But that doesn’t mean it won’t in the future under a different congress. See the thing is — we’ve been hearing about the 25th Amendment for a while now. Not just related to President Trump – we also heard it a lot it during President Biden’s term. And the fact is – the 25th Amendment exists and congress has never established the body to participate in the decision the way the amendment requires. So it should happen – the question is – will it?
Read more about the 25th Amendment commission here.
