An Unprecedented Problem: Invoke the 25th Amendment

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s abysmal performance last night in the debate with GOP candidate Donald J. Trump has all of America worried. Follow-up discussions by both Democrat and Republican pundits are in agreement that the President performed very poorly and the overwhelming majority of television viewers feel that former President Trump easily won the debate. Today, Democrat party leaders are discussing whether President Biden can be replaced as the party’s standard bearer at their upcoming national convention in Chicago in August.

Since the Democrat Party adopted the so-called McGovern rules in 1972, the party’s nominee was not selected in the infamous smoke-filled room but rather in primary elections and caucuses. Primary season 2024 is over and Joe Biden won the majority of delegates to the convention. Can and should the President be denied the nomination that he has earned fair and square?

Vice President Kamala Harris is also due to be re-nominated at the August convention. She is also constitutionally first in line to succeed to the Presidency if the President cannot fulfill the duties of his office. There are several issues which now come to the fore. Firstly, is a problem that the Democrat Party itself must deal with. Should the McGovern rules be overruled and a smoke-filled room of party leaders decide who the party’s nominees will be for the general election? This is something that the convention and its delegates need to decide. What is of greater concern to the entire American body politic is whether President Biden is mentally fit to serve as President for the remainder of his term. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution deals specifically with an incumbent President who is not fit to perform the duties of his office. If the President is unfit to be re-nominated, is he fit to continue in office until his term ends on January 20, 2025? It may be advisable to consider invoking Sections 3 and 4 of the relevant amendment. The President, his cabinet, and the Congress need to consider whether such an action is required at this time.

Garry S. Sklar

June 28, 2024

Guttenberg, NJ