There is a constitutional process of succession that would take effect if President Biden were to step down from his role as commander in chief.
Speculation over whether Biden can finish the remainder of his current term heightened after he suddenly withdrew from the 2024 presidential race. If the president did decide to resign before the end of his term, several steps would be taken to form a new cabinet.
According to Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, the vice president becomes president if the president is unable to discharge duties due to death, resignation, removal from office or other reasons. So, if Biden were to step down as president today, Vice President Kamala Harris would be sworn in as the 47th president and serve out the remainder of his term.
If a vice president is promoted to president, the vice presidency is vacated.
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President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 4, 2024. (Tierney L. Cross)
House Speaker Mike Johnson is third in line to the presidency, but he would not step into the position if Harris became president. The only case where the sitting speaker of the House becomes president would be if both the president and vice president died or resigned at the same time.
When the vice president assumes the role of president, the new president is responsible for appointing a new vice president, as stated in Section 2 of the 25th Amendment. If this scenario were to unfold today, Harris would become president and nominate a vice president.
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However, the pick needs to first be approved by a majority in both chambers of Congress, which has a party split with Republicans enjoying a majority in the House and Democrats leading in the Senate.
Members of the House of Representatives vote to elect a speaker in October 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Both the House and the Senate would vote on the approval of the vice president.
The House held up all legislative business for nearly two weeks to vote on a new speaker of the House in 2023 after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., introduced a motion to vacate Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R–Calif.
Republican lawmakers have also proposed an alternative scenario to dismiss the current commander in chief.
President Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington July 24, 2024, about his decision to drop his Democratic presidential re-election bid. (Evan Vucci, Pool)
If the vice president and Cabinet members believe the sitting president is unable to serve, they can invoke the 25th Amendment and oust him from the postilion.
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In this case, the vice president would become acting president, but the president can still claim an ability to serve. A two-thirds vote by Congress would be necessary to oust the president in that case.
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