The 25th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1967 and the last Amendment so far adopted, may soon be applied in circumstances never mentioned and perhaps undreamed of at the time. By Section 3 the President may transmit to Congress “his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits [to Congress] a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.”
Senator Buckley’s call for President Nixon’s resignation has served to focus the attention of the discerning on the trauma that the country would suffer should President Nixon be impeached. I use the word “impeached” in its legal sense: that is, formal accusation of “high crimes and misdemeanors” by the House of Representatives, followed by. a trial before the full Senate presided over by the Chief Justice of the United States, constituting the “High Court of Impeachment,” as the Senate characterizes itself at impeachment trials.
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