united-states president succession
What happens if the cabinet does not want to trigger the 25th amendment even though the President is in a coma?
<p>This is a hypothetical.  Let's say Trump's cabinet has not resigned yet.  Joe Biden is sworn in and, overwhelmed by the emotions, he has a stroke and can't move or speak, or he is in a coma, but he is alive.</p>
<p>The cabinet does not want to hand over the power to Harris and so they turn down the vote to trigger the 25th Amendment.  Who is in charge?  Who makes executive decisions?  No one but the President can fire principal officers.  So they cannot be fired, but they can be impeached.  Let's say the impeachment fails in the Senate because the Senate does not want to give power to Harris, either.</p>

<p>Most of the implications here are political, not legal.  For that, you'd have to ask Politics.SE.</p>
<p>The <em>law</em>, however, is quite clear: If the President is alive, and &quot;a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide&quot; do not invoke the 25<sup>th</sup> amendment, the President would remain President and just not do their job in this case.  Congress could presumably provide for a different set of people to validate the President's disability status, but in your hypothetical, this wouldn't happen due to a lack of consent from the Senate.</p>
<p>The 25<sup>th</sup> amendment was created to solve this problem: it is the only solution to it.  If it is not used, then there is no other means to remove a disabled-but-alive President.</p>
<p>Most (all?) executive agencies can run themselves perfectly well day-to-day without the President's help, so nothing would be likely to fall apart immediately.  There wouldn't be anyone to appoint new judges or other presidentially appointed officers, which would probably eventually become a problem.</p>
