588
Changing the Constitution
the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and
duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal
officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by
law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker
of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the
Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration
that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide,
transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose
if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter
written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after
Congress is required to assemble, 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.
In retrospect, it seems that the Framers of the Constitution overlooked
the problem that arises when a President is no longer able to fulfill the
duties of his office because he has become physically or mentally disabled. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment attempts to resolve this problem,
which became a critical one on a number of occasions in this century. Two
Presidents—Wilson and Eisenhower—lay gravely ill while in office.
Franklin Roosevelt was apparently senile in his last days, and Ronald
Reagan was struck down by an assassin’s bullet that could have left him
in a coma, as was the case when President Garfield lay unconscious for
eighty days before he died. The Twenty-Fifth Amendment also deals