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NEWARK, NJ: Since Donald Trump was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment for COVID-19 on October 2, there have been mixed messages about the president’s health status.
While his doctor, Sean Conley, gave an upbeat account around noon Sunday, the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told reporters the day before: “The president’s vital signs over the past 24 hours were very concerning. and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of your care. We are not yet on a clear path to a full recovery. “
Since then, he has been discharged on Monday (October 5).
Still, the prospect that Trump could become seriously ill raises the question of how the country can transfer power constitutionally if it is no longer capable of serving in its official capacity.
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The answer is the little-used 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. That amendment has only been invoked a few times in history.
And its lack of specificity about a situation in which the president is unable to determine for himself whether he can fulfill his functions means that a possible constitutional crisis is looming in which the president may not be able or not willing to give up power, even if it is not. clearly too ill to do his job.
REMOVAL, RESIGNATION OR DEATH
The 25th Amendment, ratified by the states in 1967, states that upon the removal, resignation, or death of the president, the vice president assumes the presidency.
Commonly known as the Disability Clause, this constitutional provision also specifies that if the president is unable to perform the functions of his office, the vice president will act as interim president.
US President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus response briefing as Vice President Mike Pence listens at the White House in Washington, United States, on April 2, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Tom Brenner) .
If the president is unable to determine his own decision-making capacity, it is possible, although this is an unproven area of law, that the vice president, independently or in consultation with the cabinet, determines whether he himself assumes the role of president in functions.
But there is no precedent for these types of situations, nor is there a precise legal language that expressly outlines what the procedural processes should be if the president cannot determine his own ability to lead the nation. This is the constitutional crisis that is coming.
In 2002 and 2007, President George W Bush invoked the Disability Clause before scheduled colonoscopy procedures that required anesthesia and sedation. During this limited time, Vice President Dick Cheney became Acting President.
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SUCCESSION LINE
In addition to the Disability Clause, there is legislation that clarifies the line of succession in the event that the president becomes incapacitated.
The Succession Act of 1886 made members of the president’s cabinet direct successors if the vice president was unable to serve.
Upon assuming the presidency in 1945 after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman petitioned Congress to amend the Succession Act of 1886 to provide further clarification of the succession protocol.
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Truman wanted that succession to place the Speaker of the House second to the Vice President. After several years of negotiation, both houses of Congress accepted this revision and passed the Presidential Succession Act in 1947.
The legislation specifies that the line of succession begins with the vice president and is followed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the secretary of the US Department of State, the secretary of the Department of State of The US Treasury and the remaining secretaries of the cabinet departments in the order in which they were established as agencies of the executive branch.
FILE PHOTO: Night view of the White House in Washington, USA, November 16, 2019. REUTERS / Yara Nardi
Neither the Succession Act nor Amendment 25 has been invoked for more than a few hours.
POTENTIAL CRISIS
Since March 2020, the US has faced an extraordinary public health catastrophe. More than 200,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus and more than 7.2 million have been infected.
For the past seven months, the president has publicly disagreed with his own team of medical and public health experts regarding precautionary measures that should be taken to minimize exposure to the virus. Your staff have largely followed suit.
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Noteworthy is a private reception at the White House and the announcement by Rose Garden to nominate Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court. More than 200 people attended, including many of the administration’s top appointees and aides.
Few at this event wore a mask. And now several prominent aides, including Republican Senators Thom Tillis and Mike Lee, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former President Kellyanne Conway’s counsel, have tested positive for coronavirus.
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As someone who has served in the White House Chief of Staff’s office during the Clinton administration, I can personally attest to the confined environment of the West Wing.
Very few senior aides have their own offices. People are constantly around, including the president, so it remains puzzling that White House personnel are not required to wear masks.
Although Trump recovered and was discharged, the decision to ignore the guidelines of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the West Wing, at official government functions and at campaign events, along with the president’s disregard for public health measures had sunk the president. country in crisis for a few days, where it was unclear who should be in charge.
Stephanie Newbold is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University in Newark. This comment first appeared on The Conversation.
