Ah, February 10th. A day that changed American history forever. No, not because it’s National Cream Cheese Brownie Day (though, honestly, we should talk about that). No, it’s because on this day in 1967, the United States government finally admitted something we all knew but were too afraid to say out loud: presidents are human beings. And human beings? Yeah, they get sick, they get old, they get weird, and sometimes they just straight-up disappear for extended vacations at undisclosed golf resorts. So, what did we do? We ratified the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to make sure we had a plan for when the guy in charge couldn’t do the job anymore.
Now, let’s set the scene. It’s 1963. Kennedy gets assassinated, and suddenly everyone realizes, “Wait a second… what happens if a president doesn’t die, but just, you know… stops functioning?” Turns out, the rules for that were about as clear as a toddler’s finger painting. We had nothing. So, Congress had to scramble to draft an amendment that laid out what happens when the country’s most important employee needs to take a leave of absence—or worse, when they should but won’t.
Enter the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, the political version of an emergency contact list. It’s got four sections, but let’s be real, the juicy stuff is in Sections 3 and 4. Section 3? That’s the “Hey, I’m getting a colonoscopy, somebody else drive the ship for a few hours” clause. Reagan, Bush, and Biden have all used it before getting knocked out for routine medical procedures. (Yes, for a brief time, Dick Cheney was technically in charge. That should have come with a trigger warning.)
Then there’s Section 4, the real drama. That’s the “we need to take the keys away from Grandpa before he drives through the neighbor’s fence” clause. If a president is clearly out of it but refuses to step down, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can basically stage an intervention. Fun fact: this has never been successfully used. Not once. Even when it probably should have been. (You know a rule is bad when it gets invoked about as often as a “check engine” light in Florida.)
Now, fast-forward to today, and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment is suddenly back in the headlines. Why? Well, in July 2024, Congressman Derrick Van Orden publicly asked Vice President Kamala Harris to use it to remove President Biden because, according to him, Biden’s cognitive abilities were slipping. Now, whether or not you agree with that is one thing, but let’s just acknowledge how hilarious it is that every time we get close to using the amendment for real, it turns into a political cage match. Meanwhile, in September 2024, Trump floated the idea that the amendment should be changed so that the VP can be removed if they “hide” the president’s incapacity. Translation: “Let’s rewrite the Constitution because I have trust issues.”
So here we are, 57 years after the Twenty-Fifth Amendment was ratified, and we still can’t agree on when to use it, how to use it, or if it even works. But one thing is clear: the fact that we even have to talk about it this much is, um… not a great sign. Maybe, just maybe, we should start treating the presidency like an actual job—one that requires annual performance reviews, term limits on rage tweeting, and, I don’t know, a required doctor’s note every once in a while?
Either way, happy Twenty-Fifth Amendment Day, everyone. Let’s hope we don’t need to use it anytime soon. But let’s also keep it handy… just in case.
