I’ve been wondering if both the 25th Amendment and the Impeachment process could be used against President Trump in these last chaotic, vulnerable days of his term, and David Priess and Jack Goldsmith say yes:
Invocation of the 25th Amendment and the impeachment route are not mutually exclusive. The vice president and the majority of the principal officers could prevent the president from exercising the powers of his office by activating Section 4, giving Congress time to impeach, convict, and remove the president—and disqualify him from serving in federal office again.
The real benefit of the 25th amendment is its efficiency. The vice president and the principal officers of the executive departments can make their decision free from parliamentary rules and transmit the results to Capitol Hill within minutes—quickly enough (in theory) to stop Trump from trying to derail the proceedings by firing enough principal executive officers that it becomes practically impossible to know who the relevant executive officers are for 25th Amendment purposes, or whether they can exercise authority under the amendment. [Lawfare, bold mine]
In fact, if the VP and the Cabinet choose to act, the timing becomes favorable for the forces for good:
The president can challenge the declaration. If he does, the vice president and the majority of the principal officers of the executive departments can disagree with the president’s assertion of ability, and they have four days to again declare that he remains unable. The dominant understanding of the 25th Amendment is that the vice president continues as acting president during this four-day period. If the vice president and the majority of the principal officers resubmit their determination of disability, the vice president remains as acting president until Congress “decide[s] the issue.” If Congress within 21 days (measured in various ways) “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.”
Regardless of the level of madness of his partisans in the House and Senate, he can be frozen out of the President’s chair for the balance of his term.
So the question is whether the VP & Cabinet, now lacking a Transportation Secretary, who resigned today, can and will take this opportunity. CNN is reporting that VP Pence is not responding to Speaker Pelosi’s overtures. It’s possible that Pence thinks he needs to run for his life at this point. The forces of the far-right may be more than talk than walk, but we don’t know that for certain just yet.
