Drafters of the 25th Amendment Say It's Not Meant to Be Dragged into Politics

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein made headlines when it was revealed that he had talked about using the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office.

But two drafters of the Amendment say it was never designed to be used that way.

"They have a political problem," said Jay Berman, the chairman of Baruch College's scholarship program, who served as the staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments in 1967. "And they're looking for a solution."

The 25th Amendment, he says, is not it.

As he told WNYC's Jami Floyd, the Amendment was intended to clarify how a President who is unable to perform the duties of his office could be declared unfit so that his or her power could be transferred elsewhere.

For example, a President could be too sick or mentally unwell — as in the case of Woodrow Wilson, who was debilitated by a stroke in 1919 and essentially ceded control of the government to his wife Edith for the last 18 months of his term.

But what the 25th Amendment's drafters did not want was for it to be used as a political tool, says John Feerick, a Fordham Law School professor who helped draft the Amendment. Instead, they wanted to clarify gaps left behind by the Founding Fathers.

"The framers of the Constitution, back in 1787, didn't give any explanation to what they meant by 'inability,'" said Feerick.

You can listen to their full conversation with WNYC host Jami Floyd above.