Scimitar SL-2

[Dedicated_Dad]

I'm reading a book with this title. Published in 2002, it's oddly prescient.

The writer is pretty prolific, with very technically accurate details of naval subjects.

The reason I bring this up is I wonder about his political/legal accuracy.

In the (oddly prescient) book, an unpopular but wise Repub. President is replaced in the 2008 election by a flaming liberal with no experience at all.

Yeah, I know.

There's a serious, credible terrorist threat of total destruction of the entire US East coast, up to 30 miles inland. Scientists concur - the threat is real - but POTUS stubbornly refuses to even discuss it, dismissing it out of hand as the ramblings of religious wackos and paranoid war-mongers.

So, they remove him from office. They march in, with the Marine guards, and tell him to sign the resignation they hand him. They then hold him and his wife incommunicado at Camp David and swear in the VP as POTUS.

In the book, they claim they have the constitutional right to do this - he's unfit for office since he refuses to deal with a credible threat to the nation.

The prescience of the author in describing our nation's state in late 2008 is striking - it's as if he was writing about Dear Leader's ascendancy, the current economy... gave me goose-bumps, especially in the extremity of the new POTUS' liberality, and the hatred conservatives had for him, his unfitness for the office, the cult of personality that put him in office...

Wild.

Anyhow, was the premise correct? Could the military - with the support of SCOTUS - unseat the POTUS in such circumstances?

If so, my darkest fears are at least lessened a bit...

DD

[JustinR]

Well according to Wikipedia:

"Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet may suspend the president from discharging the powers and duties of the office once they transmit to the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate a statement declaring the president's incapacity to discharge the duties of the office. If this occurs, then the vice president will assume the powers and duties of president as acting president; however, the president can declare that no such inability exists, and resume his or her powers. If the vice president and Cabinet contest this claim, it is up to Congress, which must meet within two days if not already in session, to decide the merit of the claim."

Edit: Whoops, looks like Chris beat me to it.

[mekender]

however, if the president were to resign and not contest it as being done under duress, it wouldnt have to progress to impeachment.