Jonathan Turley Profile picture
Law professor, best-selling author, legal analyst. You can now pre-order "Rage and the Republic": https://t.co/ekKoPevUKz

Jul 21, 2024, 8 tweets

The decision of Joe Biden to withdraw from his reelection bid raises the obvious question of how he can continue as president if he is incapable of running for that office. The Democratic Party seems to have created its own 25th Amendment, but ...

...there remains the "other" 25th Amendment. This is a type of 25th-lite option where you lack capacity to run but not to serve for an office...

...It also focuses attention on the efforts of Democrats to drop any challengers or hold any debates through the primary as millions voted for Biden. Holding a party "primary" in a matter of weeks is hardly a substitute for a primary campaign to expose candidates to prolonged scrutiny...jonathanturley.org/2023/12/04/bal…

...The problem for the White House is the glaring disconnect between pulling out of the election but holding on to the office. Pulling out as simply politically incapable of winning makes a mockery of the unopposed primary process...

...Yet, pulling out do to diminished capacity makes a mockery of his political office. There is a striking lack of clarity on the basis for this historic action...

...There are also legal questions under the federal election laws. After the democrats rallied around prosecuting Trump for federal election laws, they hardly want a controversy on the transfer of huge amounts of donations to a new candidate...

...Harris has the advantage in claiming that she is the least controversial recipient of the contributions as part of the shared ticket with Biden. She would be able to avoid any primary fight and be made the party nominee by acclamation of the party elite...

...In doing so, the DNC may be able to avoid some very difficult federal election law questions.

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