General Discussion

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill on Tuesday that seeks to kickstart the removal of President Donald Trump through the 25th Amendment — a longshot effort that, while unlikely to succeed, aims to put renewed focus on the president’s mental fitness and recent rhetoric.

The legislation, which was offered with 50 Democratic co-sponsors, would establish a “Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office.” That Commission would be composed of 17 members tasked with determining whether the president is incapacitated — “either mentally or physically” — and able to discharge the powers and duties of office, as called for in Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. .....

Despite the mounting calls to invoke the 25th Amendment, it is highly unlikely Trump would be removed through that mechanism, which has never been used to end a presidency in U.S. history.

To be successful, the vice president and a majority of the president’s cabinet would have to agree that the president “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” If the president were to dispute that assessment — as Trump almost certainly would — at least two-thirds of the House and Senate would have to agree that the president is unfit to serve to remove him from office.

In effect, using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office is a higher burden than impeachment and conviction in the Senate......

This is not Raskin’s first move zeroing in on Trump’s mental fitness. Last week, the Maryland Democrat called on the White House physician to conduct a “comprehensive cognitive evaluation” of Trump.

“At a time when our country is at war — especially when the war was initiated by the President without congressional declaration or consent — the American people must be able to trust that the Commander-in-Chief has the mental capacity to discharge the essential duties of his office,” Raskin wrote in a letter. “I therefore request that you conduct a comprehensive cognitive assessment of President Donald Trump, provide those results to Congress, and make yourself available to brief Congress on your findings.”