Lucknow Press
After Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the election race, Kamala Harris has come very close to becoming the first woman president of America. If Harris wins the Democratic nomination and then the presidential election to be held in November, she will create history. But this will not be the first time she will use the powers of the presidency. She has done this once before.
According to the BBC, in 2021, when Joe Biden was put under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy, Harris took over for 85 minutes. During her less than one and a half hours in power, Harris performed her responsibilities from her office in the West Wing of the White House. In this way, the country’s first female, first black and first South Asian Vice President made another record in her name.
At that time, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that this is not the first time that a transfer of powers has taken place in such circumstances but it is part of the process laid down in the US Constitution.
What does this Constitution say?
Outside the Constitution, the 25th Amendment says, ‘In the event of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice-President shall become President.’
Section three of the amendment detailed the temporary transition of power, a constitutional change brought about by the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.
