Constitutional lawyer Scott Gant, together with Professor Bruce Peabody of Fairleigh Dickinson University, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal addressing constitutional issues related to calls for Donald Trump to stand down as the Republican Party’s nominee in favor of his running mate, Mike Pence. A better way to proceed, Mr. Gant and Professor Peabody argue, would be for Mr. Trump to announce that, if he wins the election, he would step down immediately after being sworn in as President. Doing so would trigger the 25th Amendment, which designates the Vice President as the immediate successor, and would provide Americans who wish to vote Republican but not for Trump a viable reason “to vote for him in name only, with the understanding that he was just a placeholder,” Mr. Gant and Professor Peabody wrote.
