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Answer: Office 365 Groups simply require users to be licensed for the appropriate services (Enterprise, Business, Education SKUs, etc.). Creating a group, adding members or removing members has no impact on your license consumption. Original Office 365 Groups Questions about Administration and Management. Find 28 questions and answers about working at The Office. Learn about the interview process, employee benefits, company culture and more on Indeed.

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as himself. as himself. asEpisode chronology← Previous'Next →—' Finale' is the of the American. It serves as the 24th and 25th episodes of the, and the 200th and 201st episodes of the series overall.

The episode was written by series developer and executive producer and directed by, who directed the series'. It originally aired on on May 16, 2013, preceded by an hour-long series retrospective.The series——depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the, branch of the fictional Paper Company. In the episode, which takes place a year after the previous episode ', present and past employees of Dunder Mifflin gather for the wedding of and , during which returns to serve as Dwight's best man. In additionand finally decide to pursue Jim's dream of working in sports marketing. Finally, everyone comes together for a final round of interviews and goodbyes.The initial idea for the finale, involving the Q&A, was thought of by Daniels during production of the.

The episode features the return of many recurring characters, as well as Carell, whose return was kept secret for many months and went uncredited. And, who departed the series after ', are again credited as stars for reprising their roles as. Many members of the show's crew—such as episode writer Daniels—made cameos in the episode as various background characters, and then- stars and appear as themselves.The episode was viewed by an estimated 5.69 million viewers and received 3.0 rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, making it the highest-rated episode of the series since the eighth season installment, '. 'Finale' received critical acclaim, with many critics complimenting the writers for wrapping up the storylines for most of the characters. Critics also praised Carell's cameo, with many arguing that it was perfectly executed. This episode received three nominations for the, and won for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series.

Contents.Plot One year since the documentary has aired, the crew has returned to gain more footage for the bonus features. and are getting married. , after being humiliated with his talent show audition tape going viral on the internet, has found a job at his in the Admissions Office. has helped expand Athlead, now named Athleap, opening a branch in. is enjoying retirement in Florida and tries to get Stanley's replacement Malcolm fat on chocolates to make him look like Stanley. After being fired by Dwightbought a bar and started a career as an author in.

has moved to Poland. had faked his death but was then revealed to be a wanted fugitive, so Dwight replaced him with former employee (Devon Abner).

is preparing to run for a State Senate seat and is now Phillip's godfather. Andy, Darryl, Stanley, Toby, and Nellie return to Scranton for the wedding as well as a panel for the documentary. has been appointed at the wedding and plans a series of 'good surprises' ('Guten Pranken') for Dwight during his bachelor party, which consists of most of the current and former male employees. At the bachelor party, the group has Dwight fire a bazooka and receive a lap dance from (Jackie Debatin), though Dwight thinks she is their waitress and remains oblivious. At the bachelorette party, with the current and former female employees plus Angela's sister Rachael , the group is shocked to see that the stripper hired for entertainment is 's son.

Angela is kidnapped by Dwight's cousin. After hearing about Angela's kidnapping, Dwight and the male employees visit the bar that Kevin owns, where Dwight, at Jim's insistence to bury the hatchet, tells Kevin that his firing was not personal but based solely on his job performance, which cheers him up. Mose then leads Dwight and Jim out to his car where Angela is stuck in the trunk and finally lets her out.The following day, a panel is held for the office so that audience members can ask them questions. Dunder Mifflin CEO states his distaste for the documentary. is pressed with questions about why she did not allow Jim to follow his dream after he has paid her so many romantic gestures.

Jim attempts to disperse the resulting tension. finally meets her birth parents ( and ), who had put her up for adoption.At the weddingarrives with her husband , where surprises them with a baby, his son Drake, that he had with a former girlfriend who then abandoned them both. Jim tells Dwight that under Schrute tradition, he is not allowed to be best man as he is younger than him. Jim surprises him with the arrival of , who delivers an emotional 'that's what she said' joke. The wedding proceeds in Schrute tradition with Michael as Dwight's new best man. At the reception, Michael shows Pam pictures of his kids with, and Pam notes that he is paying for two phones just to hold all the images.

Ryan deliberately gives Drake an allergic reaction so that Ravi, a pediatrician, can attend and Ryan can steal Kelly away. Kevin tells Ravi that Ryan wanted him to keep Drake so that Ryan can have Kelly and the two can start a new life together. Ravi then gives Kevin the baby to give to before leaving, but Nellie, who has still been wanting a child, takes Drake instead.When Jim and Pam briefly return home, Jim is surprised to find showing their house to another couple. Pam comes clean and admits she has been showing the house for two months.

She wants to repay Jim for all his romantic gestures and says she wants him to go to Athleap in Austin, at which point the couple seeing the house make an offer. Jim and Pam go to an after party at the warehouse where they inform an elated Darryl of their plans, with Jim being able to rejoin the company with no change. Pam unveils a new painted mural featuring the history of their branch. A final picture is taken with the employees and the camera crew before the employees go back up to the office for a final toast.

Jim and Pam tell Dwight they are quitting, but Dwight fires them instead so he can give them hefty, as a last gesture of friendship. The employees find Creed, who has been living in Ryan's old closet since faking his death, in the office. Creed sings a song on the guitar for the office before being arrested. Widespread speculation about former star returning to the show preceded the airing of 'Finale', as the character appeared in several cameo appearances via stock footage in episodes leading up to the series finale.

After much anticipation, Carell's character, did, in fact, appear in the episode.The series finale guest stars Rachael Harris, Joan Cusack, Ed Begley Jr., and Malcolm Barrett. The episode features the return of several of the series' actors and actresses, including former series writers and stars B. Novak and Mindy Kaling, as well as,.

'I figured the character would go back and visit everybody, but he wouldn't do it on camera at this point. I think he had grown past the idea of being in the documentary, that was my take on it. That Michael Scott had said goodbye to that aspect of his life, that that's not what was important to him. I just thought, yeah he'd go back and visit, but he wouldn't want the camera crew to be documenting it.' —Steve Carell, explaining his initial hesitation to return to The Office.Early during production for the season, Kinsey and Wilson noted in an interview that the cast and crew were hoping for the return of former lead actor Carell. In mid-December, Krasinski later revealed that he was optimistic about a return; in an interview with Krasinski said that the producers were supposedly 'still trying to figure out Carell's schedule' and that the finale 'just wouldn't be the same without him'.

However, NBC chairman later admitted during an interview that while he was 'hopeful', he did not think Carell would return; he noted that Carell was satisfied with his character's exit and did not want to tarnish it. On January 16, Daniels revealed that Carell would not appear in the finale in any capacity, a decision that Carell later reiterated. Several months later, however, TVLine reported that the producers for The Office mounted 'an 11th hour effort' to get Carell to make a cameo in the show's final episode. According to the article, 'while no one is confirming that the final diplomatic push proved successful, no one is denying it either.' Carell's personal representative confirmed that Carell was on the set for the final episode, but that he did not film any scenes. However, an anonymous source close to the show cryptically said 'don't rule anything out'.

TVLine later reported on May 6, that Carell would appear in a cameo, although NBC declined to comment and Carell's representatives continued to deny the reports. A month after the episode aired, Carell explained in an interview with TVLine that he 'lied for months to the press, to almost everyone, really'. He noted that he 'felt terribly for the cast and for executive producer Greg Daniels, because they all lied, too.'

Krasinski, on the other hand, explained that 'It was so thrilling. We all just flat-out lied. It was just one of those things that we all vowed and had to protect'. Even at the initial table read for the script, Carell's appearance was not revealed.

In fact, his first line was not included in the read at all, and his second was scripted to be delivered by Creed Bratton. Deleted scenes The Season Nine DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include: more scenes from the Q&A panel; Pete discussing what he learned working at Dunder Mifflin; Angela's sister, Phyllis, and Andy giving toasts at the wedding; more scenes with Erin and her biological parents in which they reconnect; further shots of the office members reminiscing about shared memories; and the office taking one of the potted plants outside and planting it in actual soil. Erin's parents explain that they, like Erin, are puppeteers, and when they worked on the movie, it gave them such gloomy thoughts they didn't think they could handle bringing up a baby. The episode originally was scripted to begin with a different cold open; it would have entailed a prank on Dwight by Jim, in which Dwight is led to believe that he is actually living in the Matrix, a computer-simulation from the. The scene was either not filmed, or cut from the episode and not included with the other deleted scenes.

A table read of it—along with the rest of the episode—was included as a bonus feature on the ninth season DVD. Cultural references The episode makes a reference to Creed being a member of the rock band. In fact, Creed Bratton, who portrays a fictionalized version of himself on the show, did play with the band from 1967 to 1969. The song he performs near the end is titled 'All the Faces', which he wrote himself. Andy mentions that both the ' and the ' reached out to help him after his viral video mishap. Both Hader and Meyers appear in a fictional sketch involving Andy's viral fame.

After Pam compares her and Jim's relationship to a great book that never ends, Tan's character asks if it is comparable to the series. Dwight claims that is actually a front for either the United States government or 'the government of other countries'.The episode also features several callback references to previous episodes. Oscar saying 'Whazzup!' Serves as a reference to a scene from 'Pilot' between Michael, Dwight, and Jim. Jim's description in his final talking head of his job is a direct quote from his first talking head in 'Pilot'.

Dwight hires Devon back after Creed quits, a reference to 'Halloween', when Creed convinced Michael to fire Devon. Pam sits at reception one final time and answers the phone, saying 'Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam.' This is a reference to Pam's former role as office receptionist and a common phrase that she said during the early seasons. Pam's painting of the office building, introduced in 'Business School', plays a prominent role in the final scene. Reception Ratings 'Finale' originally aired on May 16, 2013, on NBC in a 75-minute timeslot, preceded by a one-hour retrospective.

The retrospective was viewed by 4.37 million viewers and received a 2.1/7% rating among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The finale itself was viewed by 5.69 million viewers and received a 3.0 rating/8% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 3.0 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 8 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This marked a significant increase, of over one million viewers, in the ratings from the previous episode, '. It also ranks as the highest-rated episode of the season, as well as the highest-rated episode for the series since the eighth season entry, ', which was viewed by 6.02 million viewers and received a 3.0/7% share. The episode ranked second in its timeslot, being beaten by the medical drama series,. NBC increased their usual ad price by 200 percent for 'Finale', asking for $400,000 per commercial.

This was largely due to the anticipated increase in viewership that the finale would bring. Via DVR viewing, the episode was watched by an additional 2.38 million viewers with an added 18- to 49-year rating of 1.4, bringing the total to 8.07 million viewers and an 18- to 49-year rating of 4.4. Reviews 'Finale' was met with acclaim from television critics.

Of gave the episode a highly positive review and called it 'a tremendously satisfying conclusion to a show that could make us gasp with laughter, but that could also make us cry or smile'. Sepinwall noted that, despite the inconsistency in the last few seasons, 'the world was rich enough to fuel a lovely 75-minute trip through the past, present and future of The Office.

Ultimately, he noted that the 'biggest emotional moments' belonged to Jim and Pam, and their final talking heads. Roth Cornet of awarded the episode a 9 out of 10, denoting an 'amazing' episode. She was highly pleased with the final fifteen minutes, noting that 'in those final moments, this series hit every note we could have wanted, without overplaying any of them.' She concluded that it 'was a strong hour of television and the finale shone and delivered on all of its promise.'

Hillary Busis of praised the entry, writing that 'for anyone who's stuck with The Office through thick and thin. Last night's 75-minute-long finale was pretty much perfect.' She wrote that 'the finale had no shortage of sob-inducing moments', and applauded all of the characters' various happy endings.

Many critics complimented the way that the series was able to wrap-up the stories of almost all of the members of the ensemble cast.Nick Campbell of wrote that the episode was 'just right' for the series, and that it highlighted the fact that 'the ending was more about the fact that you took a journey with these characters.' He wrote that all of the character's subplots had emotion, even if they appeared slightly contrived. Ultimately he concluded that 'it felt okay to say goodbye because it was the right atmosphere.' James Poniewozik of wrote that the finale was 'touching, sweet, funny, messy, a little manipulative. And in the end, it worked.' He found that 'The stuff that was like latter-seasons Office', such as Andy and Dwight's antics, were 'all right' but that 'the stuff that recalled the sweep of the whole series was wonderful.'

Poniewozik was slightly critical of Pam and Jim's story, noting that in the grand scheme of the show it was successful, but that it makes slightly less sense when one examines it closely; however, he felt that even 'if the details don't add up, the emotions do'. He concluded that the episode 'worked mostly as an epilogue' and allowed the cast of the series to have their final moments.Brian Lowry of wrote that the finale 'ignored' the last few seasons' missteps and was 'awash in warmth and inside gags'. He concluded that the show 'deserved to finish on top', and that while some of the scenes, such as Dwight's wedding, seemed 'a little bit trite', the resulting product was successful. Michael Tedder of awarded the episode five stars out of five and wrote that the episode was able to provide solid conclusions for all of the characters. Erik Adams of awarded the episode an 'A–' and wrote that 'the quality of this series finale is found in the way it functions right now, in the afterglow of a TV show to which many devoted more than 100 hours of their lives. Some aspects of the episode fall flat, but when it hits, it hits.'

Ultimately, he found that 'Finale' is not a great piece of television' but that it was the finale that ' The Office needed' because it was 'the right point to jump off. The circular track', due to the series idea of thematic reoccurrence. Tom Gliatto of magazine, however, gave the episode a negative review, and wrote that 'this episode was poorly conceived and clumsily structured. It really wasn't worthy of all the years of affectionate humor that had gone before it.' Steve Carell's cameo received glowing reviews from critics.

Campbell noted that he was 'glad Carell's return was still uncertain before the episode aired because the reveal was made that much sweeter.' Sepinwall noted that Carell's return managed to not 'overshadow the stories of the people who remained after he left, but which made sense for the characters, and the end of the series.' Adams noted that 'Carell doesn't get a lot to say—he's already had his chance to say goodbye—but that just makes each of his lines count more'. Cornet felt that the cameo's 'brevity' was 'the perfect amount of Michael for this particular episode'.

Poniewozik described it as 'a way that as best as possible walked the line between overplaying and underplaying Steve Carell's cameo.' Lowry called it a 'perfectly orchestrated cameo'. Basis wrote that the appearance was 'pretty great' and that 'the notion of Michael finally getting the family he's always wanted was enough to melt the heart of even the nit-pickiest fan.' Accolades This episode received three nominations for the.

Was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Ben Patrick, John W. Cook, and Rob Carr were nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation. And Claire Scanlon won for, marking the fifth win for The Office at the Emmys overall and the series' first win since 2009. Rogers and Scanlon also won an award for Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television. References. The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 25, 2013.

Miller, Bruce (September 16, 2012). Retrieved September 16, 2012.

^ (writer); (director) (May 16, 2013). Episode 25/26. January 16, 2013.

Retrieved January 17, 2013. RainnWilson @rainnwilson (March 6, 2013). (Tweet) – via. (director); & (writers) (May 14, 2009). NBC. ^ Carter, Bill (May 1, 2013).

Retrieved May 4, 2013. Krasinski, John (March 4, 2013). Retrieved March 9, 2013. Kinsey, Angela (March 6, 2013). Retrieved March 9, 2013.

Fischer, Jenna (March 2, 2013). Retrieved March 9, 2013. Helms, Ed (March 16, 2013).

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Tan, Jennie (March 5, 2013). Retrieved March 5, 2013. Ausiello, Michael (March 15, 2013).

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^. The Futon Critic. April 25, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2013. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (May 16, 2013). Archived from on November 23, 2013. ^ Martin, Denise (May 17, 2013).

New York Media, LLC. Retrieved May 19, 2013. Tan, Jennie (May 17, 2013). Retrieved May 18, 2013. ^ Tan, Jennie (May 16, 2013). Retrieved May 17, 2013.

Matthews, C.J. (March 5, 2013).com. Retrieved March 9, 2013. WPXI (September 17, 2012). Retrieved September 21, 2012.

Retrieved December 12, 2012. Ausiello, Michael (January 6, 2013). Retrieved January 7, 2013. International Business Times, Inc. January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 26, 2013. ^ Ausiello, Michael (April 17, 2013).

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Retrieved May 17, 2013. Haglund, David (May 17, 2013). Retrieved May 17, 2013. ^ Tedder, Michael (May 17, 2013). New York Media, LLC. Retrieved May 18, 2013. West, Kelly (May 17, 2013).

Retrieved May 17, 2013. Nussbaum, Emily (May 17, 2013). Retrieved May 19, 2013.

John Krasinski @johnkrasinski (May 17, 2013). (Tweet) – via. Ausiello, Michael (February 7, 2013). Retrieved February 7, 2013. The Futon Critic. April 5, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2013.

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Link Copied.Last week, in The New York Times, Ross Douthat became the latest and perhaps most prominent the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office. Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to recommend the removal of the president in cases where he is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” and allows the House and Senate to confirm the recommendation over the president’s objection by two-thirds vote. Douthat argued that the amendment should be invoked to stop what he calls a “childish president” who is unfit for office and who is unlikely to be impeached.

The response to Douthat’s suggestion was mixed. Argued for a broad reading of the amendment to remove “a compulsively lying President would be ‘unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.’” On the other hand, and concluded, in different ways, that for elites to invoke a contested interpretation of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to remove the president would trigger a political crisis.

Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick, in Twenty-Fifth, argued that “the most practical problem with the Twenty-Fifth Amendment option is that it won’t happen. The selfsame Cabinet and vice president tasked with assessing the president are still enabling him.”. It’s true that the use of Section 4’s involuntary-removal mechanism for the first time in American history—especially for a president who is not ill and who still has public support—could trigger a political crisis. Still, the constitutional test of the president’s being “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office was intended to be vague and open-ended. In 1995, Senator Birch Bayh, the father of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, President Dwight Eisenhower, whose illness had helped to precipitate the drafting of the amendment, in support of the proposition that “the determination of the president’s disability is really a political question.”.

In other words, both the president whose disability inspired the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and the senator who helped to draft it viewed the definition of “disability” under the amendment not as a medical decision, left to doctors, but a political decision, left to the vice president, the Cabinet, and ultimately Congress. If, at some point in the future, those officers decide it is more politically advantageous for the Republican Party to remove Trump under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment than to allow him to be impeached for obstruction of justice, nothing in the text or original understanding of the amendment would prevent them from doing so. Because predicting the political future is impossible, let’s take a deep dive into the history and original understanding of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. That history suggests that Section 4 of the amendment was intended involuntarily to remove presidents who were clearly and unequivocally incapacitated to the point of being unable to discharge their duties—in other words, terminally ill, in a coma, near death, or severely mentally incapacitated.

But the precise definition of disability was left to the political process. As Scott Bomboy in a series of posts on the National Constitution Center’s Constitution Daily, a presidential succession amendment was first contemplated after President Dwight Eisenhower’s illness in the 1950s and became a reality after the Kennedy Assassination in 1963:By 1963, Congress was debating an attempt to amend the Constitution to clear up all succession matters and add a procedure for dealing with a leader who became unable to perform the office’s duties temporarily or permanently.

This became a bigger issue with the realities of the Cold War and with President Dwight Eisenhower’s illnesses in the 1950s.The influential Senator Estes Kefauver had started the amendment effort during the Eisenhower era, and he renewed it in 1963. Section 3 of the Amendment enables a president to declare himself temporarily disabled by sending a written declaration to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House stating that “he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” In this case, the powers and duties of the president are transferred to the vice president, who becomes acting president, until the president sends another a written declaration that he can resume his duties.

Section 3 procedures have arguably been invoked three times——during medical procedures.Section 4 of the Amendment, by contrast, enables the vice president and either the “principal officers of the executive departments” (the Cabinet) or another body “as Congress may by law provide” (a “disability review body”) to declare the president disabled by sending their own written declaration to the Senate president pro tempore and the House speaker. The president can respond in writing that he is not in fact disabled; the vice president and Cabinet (or disability review body) then have four days to respond. Congress then has 48 hours to decide the question (or 21 days if Congress is not in session.) If two-thirds of both houses of Congress decide that the president is indeed disabled, the vice president becomes acting president; otherwise, the president remains in office.

Section 4 procedures, involuntarily declaring the president disabled, have never been invoked. But there have been historical instances in which presidents became disabled,.

For example, Franklin Pierce and Calvin Coolidge experienced psychological breakdowns and debilitating depressions after the sudden and tragic deaths of their children.; the second was so severe it completely paralyzed him on his left side and left him unable to fulfill basic duties as he served out his last term in seclusion. And in the most relevant precedent,:In 1987, when Ronald Reagan appointed Howard Baker to be his new chief of staff, the members of the outgoing chief’s team warned their replacements that Reagan’s mental ineptitude might require them to attempt the removal of the President under Section 4. Baker and his staff, at their first official meeting with Reagan, watched him carefully for signs of incapacity—but the President, apparently cheered by the arrival of newcomers, was alert and lively, and he served out the rest of his second term.In proposing the Twenty-fifth Amendment, Bayh worked closely with John D.

Feerick, who went on to serve as dean of Fordham Law School and is now a professor there. Feerick worked with Bayh’s subcommittee to draft the language that eventually became the Twenty-fifth Amendment. He recounted the arduous process in a 1995. As Feerick writes, the question of presidential succession was first addressed at the Constitution Convention in 1787.

In a, Feerick adds that Cabinet officials and scholars between the founding and the passage of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment debated who should judge what counts as a presidential disability:During President James Garfield’s illness in 1881, a number of well-known legal authorities were of the opinion that “inability” in the Succession Clause referred solely to mental incapacity. For example, Professor Theodore W. Dwight of Columbia Law School, one of the leading constitutional authorities of that time, held this view.22 Similarly, former Senator William Eaton of Connecticut stated, “There can be no disability that the President can be conscious of,” and “It must be a disability, as, for example, if he were insane, which is patent to everybody except himself.”Others at the time were of the view that “inability” was not restricted solely to mental incapacity. Rather, “a case. Exists whenever the public interest suffers because the President is unable to exercise his powers.” Indeed, proponents of this view believed that the inability provision of the Succession Clause should be construed broadly, covering all circumstances that might cause a President to be “unable” to discharge the powers and duties of his Office. For example, it was written at the time in the New York Herald that, “The word ‘inability’.

Means an inability of any kind. Of the body or mind.

Temporary or permanent,. which disables the President from discharging the powers and duties of his office.” Massachusetts Representative Benjamin Butler, when writing of President Garfield’s illness, said “inability includes everything in the condition of a President which precludes him from the full discharge of the powers and duties of his office” in which case “the discharge of these powers and duties becomes immediately the duty of the Vice-president.” Other distinguished authorities reasoned that whether or not an inability exists often depends on the surrounding circumstances. In drafting the Twenty-fifth Amendment, Feerick and Bayh left open the question of what counts as a presidential disability. Evan Osnos’s comprehensive article in The New Yorker, agrees that the question of what constitutes a president’s fitness for office—whether physical or mental—has been deliberately left open and hasn’t yet been answered:T he definition of what would constitute an inability to discharge the duties of office was left deliberately vague. Senator Birch Bayh, of Indiana, and others who drafted the clause wanted to insure that the final decision was not left to doctors.

The fate of a president, Bayh wrote later, is “really a political question” that should rest on the “professional judgment of the political circumstances existing at the time.” The Twenty-Fifth Amendment could therefore be employed in the case of a President who is not incapacitated but is considered mentally impaired.The article goes on to examine the challenging question of how to define and diagnose any purported disability manifest in a president, including President Donald Trump, and how the Twenty-Fifth Amendment procedures might apply. In practice, Osnos notes, “unless the President were unconscious, the public could see the use of the amendment as a constitutional coup. Measuring deterioration over time would be difficult in Trump’s case, given that his “judgment” and “ability to communicate clearly” were, in the view of many Americans, impaired before he took office.” For this reason, Osnos concludes: “The power of impeachment is a more promising tool for curtailing a defective Presidency.”.

The presidential health specialist Robert Gilbert agrees. In The Mortal Presidency: Illness and Anguish in the White House, Gilbert argues that Section 4 is “clearly the most controversial and potentially the most nightmarish” part of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. Gilbert adds that “Except in instances of obvious and severe mental impairment (such as advanced senility or dementia), the Twenty-fifth Amendment is unlikely to be of much help in dealing with psychological illness.” He writes: “One can only imagine the public reaction if Vice President Charles Dawes had declared that President Coolidge was psychologically impaired because of his severe depression, that he (Dawes) was initiating the process of removing Coolidge from office.”All of this is true. And yet, in his 1995 New York Times op-ed, Bayh explained why it should not be up to a panel of doctors to determine presidential illness or disability for purposes of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment:Yes, the best medical minds should be available to the President, but the White House physician has primary responsibility for the President's health and can advise the Vice President and Cabinet quickly in an emergency. He or she can observe the President every day; an outside panel of experts wouldn't have that experience. And many doctors agree that it is impossible to diagnose by committee.Besides, as Dwight D.

Eisenhower said, the “determination of Presidential disability is really a political question.” The vice president and Cabinet are uniquely able to determine when it is in the nation's best interests for the vice president to take the reins. Because the Twenty-Fifth Amendment was intended to leave the determination of presidential disability to politicians, rather than to doctors, nothing in the text or history of the amendment would preclude the vice president, Cabinet, and Congress from determining the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” if they deemed it in their political interest to do so.

The office questions meme

Whether or not that unprecedented and, at the moment, improbable conclusion materializes, of course, remains to be seen.We want to hear what you think about this article. To the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.