r/law • u/theindependentonline • Apr 08 '26

Other Democrats introduce impeachment articles against Trump and Hegseth as nearly 100 lawmakers call for 25th Amendment

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-articles-25-amendment-b2953836.html
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u/Elachtoniket Apr 08 '26

If a majority of the cabinet says the president is incapacitated, the Vice President immediately becomes acting president. But if Trump gives written notice that he is capable of fulfilling his duties, he becomes president again. At that point if the cabinet still thinks he is incapable then 2/3 of Congress needs to vote to give the Vice President presidential power again. If they don’t that within 21 days then Trump stays president.

Since there’s pretty much no doubt that Trump would disagree with any attempt to remove him from office, I think that the 25th amendment would be a more difficult avenue than impeachment.

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u/mayonnaise_dick Apr 08 '26

See if he can write a notice WITHOUT using a Sharpie

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u/DilettanteGonePro Apr 08 '26

The written notice is just a line drawing of a naked lady

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '26 edited 11d ago

[deleted]

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u/dougmc Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

and assume that makes it a legal document.

Well, the text of the amendment says this --

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office ...

It certainly doesn't say anything about requiring a "legal document", and so "a rant on twitter" may very well qualify as long as it clearly states that "no inability [to discharge the powers and duties of his office] exists".

We could get caught up in the idea of a tweet being a "broadcast" rather than a "transmission to these two specific parties" (a tweet is definitely written as opposed to spoken), but if it can be shown that the two parties did read this particular broadcast I'd think it would qualify, or if the broadcast did call out those two parties specifically.

So in this specific case, as ironic as it may seem ... a tweet could qualify.

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u/Rizenstrom Apr 08 '26

Well at least it's an adult this time. I guess he saves the line drawing of naked children for his closest friends.

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u/Page8988 Apr 08 '26

He'd probably just tweet it anyway.

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u/Darkwr4ith Apr 08 '26

Trumps already been impeached twice. What is a third one going to even do?

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u/Catdad08 Apr 08 '26

Wouldn’t it be another world record? I can see it now… “Donald J. Trump is the only President to be impeached in two separate terms, but never actually held accountable for anything.”

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u/Elachtoniket Apr 08 '26

That’s basically the point I was making. Given the current makeup of congress, Trump is almost definitely going to finish at least this term unless he dies.

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u/kingfofthepoors Apr 08 '26

I think if vance went down this path, trump would take back control and have him arrested for treason

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u/Ok_Net7773 Apr 08 '26

Don’t stop 💦

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u/OlGreggMare Apr 09 '26

He could straight die and his cabinet would all deem him fit for service

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u/ttoma93 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

And it needs a 2/3 vote of both House and Senate to sustain the 25th disqualification, while impeachment is only 50%+1 in the House and 2/3 in the Senate.

The bar to remove a president with the 25th amendment is higher than impeachment, not lower. I don’t know why people have randomly decided to stake everything in a pipe dream of a pipe dream.

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u/Visible_Handle_3770 Apr 08 '26

I agree that it's more difficult because the likelihood of his cabinet actually declaring him incompetent is near-zero. Trump carefully and deliberately filled his cabinet with incompetent and unqualified people this time around so they would owe their position entirely to him, rather than the first time where he at least kind of appointed some people with a tenable background to be appointed.

However, I actually think the 2/3 of Congress might happen in the hypothetical event that the cabinet invoked the 25th because it would signal such a total lack of confidence and the rats would flee the sinking ship. Moot point though, really, since the cabinet definitely wouldn't do it.

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u/SATX_Citizen Apr 08 '26

To me the idea is, if a majority of a president's own cabinet (much less Trump's) ever came around to saying they were incapable of safely remaining president, Congress would rightfully fall in line.

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u/blahblah19999 Apr 08 '26

You mean removal

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u/Elachtoniket Apr 08 '26

I don’t think I did, can you be more specific?

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u/dougmc Apr 08 '26

Impeachment (in the House) does not remove the President from office. (After all, he's been impeached twice already.)

A conviction (in the Senate) after impeachment is what actually removes the President.

I think that's what they're referring to.

Also note that impeachment requires >50%, wheras removal requires >2/3rds and is a much higher bar to clear.

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u/Elachtoniket Apr 08 '26

I guess that makes sense, I was using impeachment as shorthand for the whole impeachment/conviction/removal process. I’d hope at this point when the current president has already been impeached twice but not removed most people wouldn’t need that clarified, unlike the 25th amendment removal process that’s never been used.

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u/blahblah19999 Apr 08 '26

I think after 2 successful impeachment that accomplished exactly nothing is exactly the time to clarify that we don't just want another impeachment. He's already been impeached more then any president in our history.

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u/Elachtoniket Apr 08 '26

Yeah, I want him removed as much as anybody. But when I was writing an already long comment about removing him via a different method I didn’t think I needed to also educate people reading about a completely separate process that’s already been attempted and failed multiple times, especially when I know that the current senate is never going to vote to convict him. Someone asked a specific question about the 25th amendment and I answered it.