# 25th Amendment - Can never happen **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 9, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25th-amendment-can-never-happen/1016822 "2025-04-09T05:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2026, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25th-amendment-can-never-happen/1016822/81 "2026-03-06T20:36:46Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > The threat worked in that one case. It hasn’t worked in any others Impeachment. like most criminal cases works a little like chess. The king is never actually captured. The loser resigns when capture is obviously unavoidable. Most criminal cases end when the defendant cops a plea. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25th-amendment-can-never-happen/1016822/82 "2026-03-17T18:32:47Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > People, at least in most countries, cannot be arrested and locked up for things that they might do, only for something that they have done. Inability to do the job doesn’t require a criminal standard of proof. Leaders of governments get dismissed in many a democracy for all sorts of perceptions of unsuitability, not necessarily wrongdoing or precisely-calibrated incapacity. “I’ll lose my seat if we don’t get rid of [him/her]” will often do it. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25th-amendment-can-never-happen/1016822/83 "2026-03-23T04:36:22Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Inability to do the job doesn’t require a criminal standard of proof. The US constitution sets fixed terms. Impeachment was intended as the mechanism for removing someone before their term is complete. It requires proof of a crime. In the cases of Johnson and Clinton, politicians in congress twisted themselves into knots creating a crime with which to accuse the president. Democracies that have been established more recently provide easier ways to remove the head of state. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25th-amendment-can-never-happen/1016822/84 "2026-03-23T04:41:55Z")
> [@Ancient\_Nerd](#): > > It requires proof of a crime. Yes and no. “High crimes and misdemeanors” does not necessarily mean only an actual, indictable crime – other forms of misconduct and abuse of power, which are not actually criminal offenses, can also be grounds for impeachment. Fundamentally, what is impeachable comes down to what Congress chooses it to be: > [@](#): > > While still serving as a member of the House of Representatives, Gerald Ford once said that impeachable offenses are whatever a majority of the House considered them to be. The burden is on those who want to bring impeachment charges to persuade a majority of the members of the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members of the Senate that an act is so serious as to justify removing an individual from office. > **[Interpretation: Article II, Section 4 | Constitution Center](https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-ii/clauses/349)** > > Interpretations of Article II, Section 4 by constitutional scholars [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25th-amendment-can-never-happen/1016822.md?page=4)