Presidential Disability and Mandatory Removal

Presidents often develop physical and mental impairments during their tenure in the White House. While certain impairments have a neutral or even positive effect on a president’s leadership capacity, others severely diminish it. Does such diminished leadership violate the Constitution? This Comment answers that question by advancing three novel claims. First, the Constitution imposes on the President duties to personally direct and supervise the executive branch. Second, certain kinds of severe impairments make the President unable to direct and supervise, thereby causing a breach of duty. Third, to remedy that breach, the President must resign or voluntarily transfer power to the Vice President using Section Three of the Twenty- Fifth Amendment. If the President will not resign or transfer power, the Vice President and Cabinet must replace the President using Section Four of the Amendment. And if the Vice President and Cabinet will not use Section Four to replace the President, Congress must impeach and remove the President. By reframing presidential disability as an issue of duty and breach, this Comment delineates a clear boundary between circumstances in which the President’s removal is optional and those in which it is constitutionally compelled.