Lawrence J. Trautman (Prairie View A&M University - College of Business; Texas A&M University School of Law (By Courtesy)) has posted Kamala Harris, Donald J. Trump, The U.S. Constitution, Fitness For Office, Deep Fakes, and Importance of Succession Planning on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
With just a few months to go before the start of early voting in the 2024 American presidential election, Joseph R. Biden's disturbing debate performance on June 27, 2024 throws the Democratic Party into crisis. Given the demanding, high-stress characteristics of serving as U.S. president, how is it that after almost two hundred-fifty years of democracy, the American political electorate faced the risk-laden choice between a frail, obviously impaired candidate having a remaining expected lifespan, should he be re-elected, of about 5.26 years at the end of his term (Biden) when he would be 86 years-old-versus former President Donald J. Trump, a twice impeached, convicted felon, indicted and facing several ongoing trialswho, should he be elected, will be 82 at the end of 2028 and will then have an actuarial expectation of an additional 6.96 years. The perplexing question for most in the Democratic Party has been "how did we allow ourselves to be in this position?" Herein lies the focus of this inquiry. This discussion about Constitutional law is of significant import to our understanding of: the likely preservation of democracy; Twenty-Fifth Amendment; and issues related to presidential fitness for office. These are the important topics of this paper.
