What is the “25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution”?

After various supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building, demands of impeaching President Donald Trump or to invoke the 25th Amendment has been raised. The US Capitol Building houses both the House of Representatives and the US Senate.

What is the 25th Amendment?

• The 25th amendment of the US Constitution lays out provisions related to the succession or replacement of the US president and vice president.
• As per Cornell Law School, the 25th Amendment was made with an attempt to resolve some of the issues of the office of the President like procedures to follow on the sudden death of the president, his removal, or resignation.
• The amendment which has 4 sections describes the course of action in such situations.
• The first section lays the process of succession in the event of the death of the president. According to the section, in such a case, the vice president would succeed to the office.
• The second section has provisions for the vacancies in the vice president’s office.
• The 3rd section has a process for determining the capacity of the president to discharge the powers and duties of the office.
• If a president is incompetent then as per the fourth section of the amendment, the vice president and the cabinet should start proceedings to replace the president.
• After this, the vice president assumes the position of acting president.
• After the supporters of Trump attacked the US Capitol Building, demands for invoking the fourth section of the 25th amendment are being raised.

Background

The 25th Amendment was proposed by the US Congress after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The amendment was proposed in July 1965 and was made into law in February 1967.