June 20, 2003
'West Wing,' '24' provide civics lesson
25th Amendment gets a workout in presidential plots
ROBIN A. ROTHMAN
Knight Ridder
Charlotte Observer
The not-so-well-known 25th Amendment came up on two shows recently. On Fox's "24," President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) was ousted by a single vote when Vice President Prescott (Alan Dale) tested the application of Section 4, which provides for the involuntary removal of the president from office. The scheme worked, and he convinced the Cabinet to question the president's competency.
The show's use of the section may have been a stretch. OK, a huge stretch. But not necessarily wrong.
"It's interesting because Section 4 of the 25th Amendment is almost silent on what constitutes being `unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,' " says Daniel Ponder, an associate professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs who teaches a course on The Presidency. "It is pretty much up to the interpretation of the VP and the Cabinet."
Palmer's recourse might have been an appeal to Congress after four days (which, with the show's real-time format, would have been four seasons from now), but it never came to that. As the clock ticked toward 8 a.m., he was vindicated, reinstated and slapped with a flesh-eating disease -- just in time to arouse our curiosity about next season.
If Palmer should be physically incapacitated for the next season, guess which amendment goes back into effect? Go on, guess. And Prescott remains next in the line of power.
Meanwhile, over on NBC's "The West Wing," fictional President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), in the midst of frantic grief over his kidnapped daughter and mild memory loss caused by his multiple sclerosis, invoked Section 3 of the amendment. He asked his Cabinet, including Secretary of Commerce Mitch Bryce (played by, get this, Alan Dale!) to remove him from office.
And then things got tricky.
Busted for an extramarital affair with a journalist, and his odd idea of pillow talk (divulging classified information), Vice President John Hoynes (Tim Matheson) submitted his letter of resignation several episodes ago.
That Bartlet was operating VP-less when he made the crucial decision to step down was more than a clever plot twist. It was a civics lesson, a cliffhanger, and a perfect set-up all in one.
The civics lesson: The presidency went to the next-highest-ranking elected official, the speaker of the House, who had to resign his office in order to accept the position of president pro tempore.
The cliffhanger: The speaker of the house is a Republican. Welcome John Goodman to the cast. The set-up: As Aaron Sorkin -- the show's creator, executive producer and primary writer -- bequeaths "West Wing" unto John Wells ("ER," "Third Watch"), he provides him with infinite plot possibilities for what'll be a make-or-break season.
It was one heck of a story line. But was it actually accurate?
"The only part of it that's not believable to me is that he would willingly, voluntarily give up the presidency to the other party even for a little while," says Ponder.
The alternative? Select a new vice president, which entails congressional approval. "If they did it under emergency provisions, they could do it within a few days," Ponder says.
Like "24," the situation seemed far too urgent and volatile to spare that time. So Goodman it is.
Which leaves us with only one remaining question: Does that make Roseanne the first lady?
Posted on Fri, May. 30, 2003
