Can The President Fire The Vice President: What The U.S. Constitution Says 

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Can The President Fire The Vice President

A democratically elected president has executive powers to appoint and fire or recommend qualified individuals for several federal civil positions.

According to the Constitution, the president can appoint ambassadors, ministers, Supreme Court Judges, and make other executive branch appointments.

The vice president doesn’t have such powers. They play second fiddle to the president. But both public officers are elected at the same time. Vice presidents and presidents are usually from the same political party.

The president is the number one citizen and has more powers than the vice president. The vice president is the number two citizen.

Now here’s a big question that has caused several heated debates.

Can The President Fire The Vice President?

The straightforward answer is no. The president has great executive powers, but unseating the United States of America’s vice president is not one of them.

Even if the vice president commits a crime, the president doesn’t have the power to remove him or her from office. It’s congress’ role.

You can’t fire the vice president of a country the same way ministers, ambassadors, and other executive officials are fired. Congress has to follow due process according to the constitution.

Continue reading to get more information about this topic.

How Powerful Is The President?

The tension, attention, media coverage, and focus during the U.S. general elections should tell you how important elections are in the country. The world stands still during the U.S. presidential elections.

The United States plays vital role in maintaining peace and ensuring economic prosperity throughout the world. So the outcome of the country’s election affects the entire globe.

The United States is unarguably the world’s most powerful country. All individuals fighting for POTUS know this. And they know they need to maintain this status quo. It doesn’t matter if the president is a democrat or republican.

Furthermore, the president has great executive powers, as enshrined in the constitution.

Here are the powers bestowed on the president. But keep in mind that the president may need congress’ approval to exercise his or her powers in certain capacities.

  • The president has the authority to sign and veto bills.
  • The president is the commander-in-chief and can function in that capacity during wars.
  • The president makes treaties, though it requires the senate’s approval.
  • Call out the United States security agencies and troops to protect the country during an attack.
  • Offer suggestions on new laws.
  • Represents the United States of America during talks with other foreign countries.
  • Enforces laws passed by congress.
  • Appoints cabinet heads and other high-ranking officers to head the federal government’s executive branch.
  • In charge of appointing judges of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court members.
  • The president is the leader of his or her political party. The president dictates the party’s legislative agenda.

Thanks to Article II’s of the U.S. constitution’s vagueness, the President can perform diverse official and unofficial duties. He or she must also ensure that congress’s laws are successfully executed.

The president can also appoint and fire service chiefs but do the same to congress members or even the country’s vice president.

The electorates indirectly elect the vice president by voting for the president. Presidents don’t choose vice presidents after winning an election. But that doesn’t mean the president cannot appoint a vice while in office. It can happen under certain circumstances.

It’s also important to note that presidential aspirants can fire their running mates (vice presidents) before primary elections.

Once an election is conducted and a vice president emerges, the president has no power to fire him or her. If this were the case, vice president Mike Pence’s office would have been vacant even before President Donald Trump’s tenure ended.

So, the president can only fire appointed public office holders, not those democratically elected into a position like that of the vice president.

How Powerful Is The Vice President?

The U.S. Vice President’s role has always been ill-defined throughout the country’s political history. The vice president is known to play second fiddle to the president. But that doesn’t mean they are not important.

Vice presidents assist presidents in various capacities. They hold the second-highest office in the executive arm of government.

It’s also important to know that the VPOTUS (Vice President of the United States of America) has lesser power than the POTUS (President of the United States of America).

So, what power do vice presidents have?

Vice presidents are the next in command in the absence of the president. The United States’ constitution recognizes them as the president if the incumbent is not available.

Circumstances that can cause a vice president to become the president include the president’s demise, temporary incapacitation, or resignation.

The vice president can also become the president if they and the cabinet members discover that the president can no longer govern the country.

The vice president plays several roles. He or she is a member of the National Security Council. During wars, vice presidents and presidents sit in the same situation room.

Furthermore, the vice president is the president of the senate, as stipulated in the U.S. constitution. He or she can preside over the daily proceedings of the senate. In the upper chamber, vice presidents can oversee voting but can only vote if there’s a tie during voting.

However, senators in the upper chamber now elect a leader, someone from the majority party.

Before the 12th Amendment’s rectification in 1804, electors’ votes were only for the presidential candidates. Candidates that emerged with the second highest votes become the vice president.

Now politics have changed. Presidential aspirants pick their running mates or vices. It’s now the winner in a presidential election who takes over both offices (president and vice). Presidents can also decide their running mates themselves or allow party members to decide during the party’s convention.

Can The President Appoint A Vice President?

The answer is yes. But that can only be possible under certain circumstances.

So what are those circumstances that would warrant a sitting president to appoint a vice president?

Here they are. If the elected vice president dies, is incapacitated, resigns, or impeached. If any of these happens, then the president has the constitutional powers to choose someone qualified to assume the vice president’s vacant office.

How Can The Vice President Be Fired?

To date, the United States of America hadn’t experienced a situation where the second citizen of the country, the vice president, was impeached. But that doesn’t mean vice presidents are not impeachable. They are.

However, being more superior, the president doesn’t have the power or right to fire a vice president. That role belongs to congress.

According to the United States constitution, congress can impeach the president, vice president, and other federal civil officials.

Nevertheless, congress cannot just wake up and impeach the president or vice. There has to be a good reason for it to take place.

Impeachable offenses are misconduct of public mistrust. If a president or vice president is guilty of such, then congress can take serious action.

So, a vice president could be fired if found guilty of bribery, treason, misdemeanors, or other higher crimes.

Conclusion

So, can the vice president be fired by the president? Here’s the mind-boggling question we have answered on this post. The president has great executive powers and can fire several public officers. But constitutionally, it’s not his or her place to fire the vice president. The president lacks the power to fire the vice president.

The modern-day vice presidents are well-recognized, powerful and they have become an asset in every regime. The president often relies on the vice president to lift some burden off his or her shoulders.

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