Government,
Constitutional Law
Dec. 31, 2018
Presidential inability isn’t new, it just wasn’t public
It generally was concealed from the American public. President Woodrow Wilson, for example, was incapacitated by several strokes in 1919.
John H. Minan
Emeritus Professor of Law
University of San Diego School of Law
Professor Minan is a former attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the former chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board.
The U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, clause 6, states that "in case of removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President." The Founders provided no guidance on the mechanism or procedure for determining a president's "Inability." As a result, removal of a president for "Inability" (disability) is more complicated and uncertain than de...
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