Ralin wrote: ↑2021-02-02 06:33am
Zaune wrote: ↑2021-02-02 05:25am
And I presume the DoJ, the Attorney-General's office or whoever is responsible for this sort of thing has some sort of policy guideline drawn up for what to do when a president who's being impeached proves he should have been removed under the 25th amendment but wasn't because politics. Making plans for situations that arise when the elected part of the government cocks up royally is what a professional civil service is
for.
Ha. Haha. Ahahahahahahaha.
Zaune, that makes two specific assumptions
#1 - Someone actually thought those circumstances up, and then had the balls draw up those plans, before it ever came up.
Plans like that are rarely done prior to being needed. Doing so before hand is like saying "I expect this to happen during my term of employment."
Also, doing so, if word got out, could be the cause of termination of said employment.
But, let's ignore that, and look at when Impeachment of a President did come up, post Amendment 25, so see if there could have been cause to make someone go 'you know what, we need that policy'.
The last president to be impeached was Bill Clinton.
He is also the only President to be impeached after that amendment was put in place. (Nixon resigned)
So, with Clinton....
Section 1 couldn't be implied to him, as he was still in office, and still alive (and wanting to remain in office)
(Section 1 is for the death, or resignation of the president). (Section 1 applied to Nixon)
Section 2 is not applicable (as it's for filling the now vacant vice presidency)
(It applied to Nixon's resignation)
Section 3 wasn't implemented, because Clinton never temporialy transferred his powers
Section 3 WAS implements by two former presidents during their term in office, both for medical procedures.
Specifically, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush. Once the procedures were completed and they checked out of hospital, they resumed the role of president, and returned the vice presidency to it's previous holder.
Section 4 has never been implemented
That is when the Vice President and Cabinant remove the President from office.
(This was one of the plot elements from 'Air Force One').
Both Clinton, and Trump, had the full support of their cabinet.
(Mind you, I have to wonder, if the insurrection had occurred right after the election, would they have removed Trump at that point to save their own skins?)
So, no administration prior to Trump, has circumstances where policies like you are suggesting were needed.
(I've seen it argued after the fact it might have been needed for Reagan, and that his people might have been covering up early signs of Alzheimer's disease well before his 1994 diagnosis, but Reagan was never impeached, and was very open with his diagnosis so I personally have my doubts on that)
#2 - If such plans were created under a previous administration, (say Clinton ordered it for shits and giggles after he was impeached but was not convicted), that they survived the transfer between administrations!
I say this because, one of the mainframe computer systems at work was replaced during an change in Administration. On the way out, to make sure the new system remained, and the old system couldn't be restored, the outgoing administration had (nearly) all the old manuals for that system destroyed. The only ones that remains were for the 'conversion' team, and copies people still had for themselves that they refused to admit to having when the order came down.
I've been asked why I still follow a few of the people I know on Facebook with 'interesting political habits and view points'.
It's so when they comment on or approve of something, I know what pages to block/what not to vote for.
