The 25th amendment was passed to the states by Congress in 1965 and ratified by the states in 1967. It makes specific provisions for the appointment of a Vice President mid term, should the need arise, and more clearly explains the circumstances under which the Vice President assumes the role and responsibilities of chief executive where the President has neither died nor resigned.
The disability clauses, as they are known, provide for two circumstances under which power is transferred. First, the President may voluntarily transfer his power to the Vice President by letter to the President pro tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. Second, the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet may, by letter written to the President pro tem and the Speaker of the House, declare the President unfit to discharge his duties and vest the power of the executive in the Vice President for twenty-one days unless Congress authorizes the Vice President to continue in the role of chief executive for a longer period of time.
The disability clauses have been invoked only once since ratification. At the end of June last year, the current President Bush specifically invoked the amendment to transfer executive power to Vice President Cheney for the hour he would be under anaesthesia during a test for colon cancer. Previous presidents specifically avoided invoking the 25th when transferring power during medical procedures for reasons that remain unclear. Even after President Regan had been shot, Bush the Older and the cabinet never invoked the amendment leaving the power of the executive officially vested in a man whose chest lay open on an operating table, mere heartbeats from death. If that doesn't qualify as a disability under the amendment, I'm not sure what would.
I have included the text of the amendment at the bottom of this entry for any of you too lazy to look it up yourselves.
Here are but a few examples of the 25th's unprecedented popularity during this television season. All of the following plot descriptions are of programs that have already aired in the United States, but I include a polite spoiler warning here in case you've yet to see the season ender of your favorite show.
On last night's stunning conclusion to a wonderfully taut season of 24, the seemingly indestructible Jack Bauer defeated the plot of the evil Kingsley by singlehandedly gunning down or otherwise dispatching, while experiencing some kind of debilitating cardiac event, a busload of evil thugs intent on taking out the delightfully duplicitous ex-wife of the President who had colluded with Kingsley to bring a nuclear weapon onto U.S. soil, where it was detonated, and was attempting to redeem herself by getting Kingsley to confess his heinous crimes into a wire the President's ex-wife wore under her bra strap just above the gaping stab wound she'd received at the hands of a computer genius she intended to use and betray. The information the President's ex-wife procured was just the evidence needed to avoid an all out war between the United States and the Middle East and also to convince the Vice President who, in conjunction with a majority of the cabinet, had declared President Palmer incapacitated under section 4 of the 25th thereby staging a Constitutional coup several episodes earlier, to return the Presidency to Palmer and generate the happy ending long time fans were clamoring for. Or at least it would have been happy save for the return of the evil naked lesbian from last season and the compact full of toxins she secreted away in her stylish handbag!
On The West Wing President Bartlett's daughter was kidnaped by Islamic extremists trying to use her to blackmail the President into removing any American presence from their Middle Eastern countries. The President decided his emotional investment in saving his daughter had compromised him and he decided to invoke the 25th to voluntarily relieve himself from power for the duration of the crisis. The only problem, of course, is that there was no currently sitting Vice President, so as the Speaker of the House is the next in line of Presidential succession, removing himself from office would place the Speaker in the White House. And the Speaker was a... wait for it... Republican! As the Republican assumed office and began issuing orders contrary to the philosophy of the President's aides, the camera pulled back and faded to black.
On Smallville the voice of Clark's biological father spoke to him, demanding he invoke the 25th and become ruler of Earth. This created a great deal of conflict in Clark as he was far less ambitious, seeking only to finish highschool and finally bed Lana. But the voice of Jor-el was persistent and demanding so Clark blew up the space ship which had brought him to Earth and in so doing caused his adoptive mother to lose her unborn child. In the final minutes of the episode, Clark put on a class ring which made him a badass on account of the stone was made of red kryptonite and rode some kind of hog or chopper or whatever into the sunset like it was an early Brando movie, his refusal to invoke the 25th cemented, his defiance palpable.
Similarly on the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer our intrepid heroine, surrounded by potential slayers, waged a war against the hoards of evil proto-vampires threatening to spill out of the hellmouth causing such an influx of evil so as to make the First Evil corporeal. How could one girl win against such staggering odds? She called upon Willow to invoke the 25th amendment and in so doing activated all other potential slayers all over the world creating her own army of super heroes.
On the flip side of the Buffyverse, the long suffering gang at Angel found their world turned on its head when the staggeringly evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart invoked the 25th and removed themselves from power where the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart is concerned. As a reward for ending world peace, the senior partners of Wolfram & Hart caused a letter to be sent to the President pro tem of the Senate and the Speaker of the House officially requesting our favorite vampire with a soul and his comrades take over the operation of the firm indefinitely.
On The Practice, Bobby, reeling from the dissolution of his marriage and the rejection of the girl he was trying to bed in his wife's stead, invoked the 25th placing the burly Eugene in charge of the firm while he divested himself of Donnel Young Dole & Frutt completely and set off to start a new solo practice, which would have to struggle harder for even a modicum of respect.
And over on Alias everyone's favorite super spy found herself in hot water when Sark's girlfriend, the woman who killed Francie and had her genetic structure altered to become Francie's evil double, found herself actually falling for Will (how could she resist), just as he discovered the drugs used to assist Evil Francie in the transformation in the medicine cabinet, exposing her as the evil operative she was. Despite her feelings for the fetching Will, Evil Francie stabbed Will with a kitchen knife and left him to bleed to death in the bathtub while patiently waiting for Sydney to return home. But the cunning and beautiful Will had left Sydney a voice mail explaining Francie was evil so a kick ass chick fight erupted between Syd and Evil Francie and ended with a gunshot wound to Francie's tender middles and an exhausted and beat down Sydney passing out on the floor amid the shards of what had once been a full length mirror. Sydney awoke to find herself on the streets of Hong Kong and after making her way to a safe house there was informed that her boyfriend, the sub-standard Vaughn, had invoked the 25th amendment by marrying some other bitch and it was now two years from the date of the chick fight.
These are just a few examples of the 25th amendment in use on television this season. As I am a creature of influence, and as work has been especially draining lately, and as I am never one to actually buck a trend, I have made the decision to invoke the 25th amendment myself.
This afternoon I caused a letter to be issued from my desk to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, President pro tem of the Senate, and Representative Hastert, the Speaker of the House, officially informing them that I do hereby relinquish executive authority voluntarily and vest that authority in Eunice, the Vice President of the Soonerverse, until such time as I believe myself to no longer be incapacatated. At which time I will re-vest the executive authority of the Soonerverse in myself by way of letter to the President pro tem and the Speaker of the House.
I have left specific instructions for Eunice requesting that she remember this is still my diary, not hers, and while the voice will be distinctly that of "a poor ol' little handicapped monotrematous retard with a flipper, a vestigial tail, a harelip, a glass eye and no eyelids, trying to make my way in a cold, cruel world that has no place for [her]," the direction I've set this journal on should stay the course. My experiences, her voice.
So, I leave you in Eunice's care and hope to return from my hiatus soon.
~~~~~~
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionSection 1.
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2.
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3.
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4.
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, transmits 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.
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 unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days 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. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
Posted at 3:25 p.m.
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