Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana is widely credited with drafting the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1967 in the wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Hence, his focus was upon a mostly physical “inability to discharge the powers and duties” of some future president resulting from an incapacitating injury or illness. But clearly, there are other dimensions to the notion of inability or disability that must be considered when appraising the ability of a president to function effectively and responsibly as the chief executive officer and as the commander-in-chief of our armed forces. Newly minted physicians swear to abide by the time-honored provision of the Hippocratic Oath to “Do no harm” — so should a president.

I contend that the continued exi

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