Democrats can now launch process to invoke never-before-used rule that could remove Trump from the White House

Donald Trump has suffered a major political defeat, and the consequences could reach far beyond the results of the midterm elections.Democrats have won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, delivering a stunning setback to Republicans and giving the opposition party control of Congress for the first time during Trump’s current term.The Associated Press reports that Democrats scored victories across the country, including in traditionally Republican states that Trump won comfortably just two years ago.The result gives Democrats significantly more power to challenge the president’s agenda during the final two years of his term.Party leaders have already indicated that investigations into the administration and closer scrutiny of Trump’s actions will be among their priorities. Impeachment has not been ruled out either.But there is another possibility that could become part of the political discussion.For almost 60 years, a provision in the U.S. Constitution has allowed Congress to establish an independent commission that could help determine whether a sitting president is mentally and physically capable of carrying out the responsibilities of the office.It has never been put into practice.And with Democrats now preparing to take control of both chambers, attention could once again turn to a proposal that has been discussed in Washington before.The provision is found in Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, which was ratified in 1967.Most Americans associate the amendment with the transfer of presidential power when a president dies, resigns, or temporarily becomes unable to serve.But Section 4 addresses a different situation: what happens when a president is still alive and in office but is considered unable to perform his duties.The amendment allows the vice president, together with a majority of the principal officers of the executive departments, to declare that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.There is also an alternative written into the Constitution.It allows Congress to establish another body through legislation that could take the place of those principal officers in the process.That means lawmakers could create an independent commission, separate from the president’s Cabinet, to assess presidential capacity.If the vice president and the required majority of that commission agreed that the president could no longer fulfill his responsibilities, the vice president would immediately assume the role of acting president.It would be an extraordinary constitutional step, and one that Congress has never taken.