Could a sitting President refuse to leave office?

I know this sounds far fetched but it has happened in other countries and after the last election fiasco who knows?

What would happen if a sitting President refused to leave office? What could he do to stop the winner from taking office? Could he declare martial law and refuse to leave? Are there any safeguards in place to make sure this can never happen?

The Secret Service in place at the time are sworn to serve and protect the President under any circumstance, would that mean he would have his own little SS Squad already in place? Plus he is the Supreme Commander of the military, anyone disobeying an order could be charged with treason.

What about all the extra security in place since 9-11 would there be a way to get to the President if he did not want to be reached? Have we given so much power to our leaders that they could force total control over our country if that is what they decided they wanted?

His entire cabinet and the leadership of both houses would have to back him up, otherwise they could remove him from office. The odds of that happening are slim to none ...

what? Both houses are Republican?

Odds are now 50/50


The Supreme Court is mostly Republican?!?

Odd are now 75/25

thassa spicy civil waaaaaaaarrr!

Well in a case of a terror attack happening right before elections, yes elections can be postponed, but if a winner is elected and a terror attack happens before the inauguration, well, the winner will still take office, now for the president in office to stay in power and refused to leave, well he better has more than the supreme court in his side, he will need the arm forces to back him up also.

I know is a lot members in ATS that have more inside to give a better answer than me.

This ties in very well with another thread: The "In-Between" Time

The possiblity of a terrorist attack after the election but before the inauguration is being discussed there.

Martial Law would effectively suspend democracy IMHO and all it takes is the stroke of a pen and a phone call.

Invoking a state of civil emergency, FEMA regulations, postponing elections or inaugurations - none of this is beyond the corrupt neo-cons who inflitrated the Whitehouse with the Bush administration.

It's unlikely to occur.

But what needs to occur is that when the Bush cancer is cut out, illegal gains of the Bush cronies need to be disgorged (Colonel-ism) from them, and the criminal players in the administration need to be imprisoned.

Well after all this is a conspiracy board is it not?

I highly doubt this could happen, but in an emergency one could stay until power COULD be transfered.

It could not happen in the sense that you propose. Even if the former President barricaded himself inside the White House, his term of office would end and the new President would be sworn in and would preside from some other facility until the White House could be vacated.

Nothing is beyond possiblity, but this scenario is not very likely with the checks and balances that the Constitution guarantees.



[edit on 04/10/19 by GradyPhilpott]

we must never forget the power of the people either, all it takes is for most of us to realize theres a problem, we can take this country over any time we want. They would like to make it seem like a few thousand riot cops and army guys could contain an entire nation, that is just deception.

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
But what needs to occur is that when the Bush cancer is cut out, illegal gains of the Bush cronies need to be disgorged (Colonel-ism) from them, and the criminal players in the administration need to be imprisoned.

Its rare we actually agree MA, but it is unlikely to occur. The SS is not a pretorian guard and while sworn to protect the president this seems a bit above and beyond. Do not forget that if Kerry won he would also have a SS detail protecting him as well.

And you are right, if Kerry wins, he will replace the Bush people with his own criminals, cutthroats, deadbeats, and burnt ex hippies . Ron Dellums for Sec Def anyone? Wonder who will pull a Vince Foster to protect the Kerry secrets?

FYI:

There are many Martial Law questions answered here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

And you are right, if Kerry wins, he will replace the Bush people with his own criminals, cutthroats, deadbeats, and burnt ex hippies . Ron Dellums for Sec Def anyone? Wonder who will pull a Vince Foster to protect the Kerry secrets?

yeah god forbid we get any hippies in power, they might start promoting crazy ideals like "peace" and "love" and "environmental consciousness" ..........crazy america hating hippies!

Yes, but some of us have been watching wayyyyyyy to many movies.

I would like to see Bush try if he lost.........The image of a pair of USMC guards in dress blues carrying him down the stairs onto the White House by his legs and arms would be priceless.

Cheers

In this imaginary scenerio of President Bush losing the election to Kerry and refusing to leave office is absurd!

President Bush's integrity couldn't allow him to do that.

In this imaginary scenerio, upon losing the elections, President Bush would call up Kerry and congratulate him on the win.

That's the kind of an honorable man we're talking about here.

But fortunately, these scenes will never happen, thank God!

It was a hypothetical question! I agree that Bush is an honorable man, I was just questioning the possiblility of this kind of thing ever being able to happen. Government is getting out of our control, we are on a downward spiral, it is a snowball effect I was wondering about future possibilities, not this election!

and me...I was just trying inject some humor here folks....after some of the threads I ve been on, you need it once in a while....you know.

Originally posted by jeeze louise
The Secret Service in place at the time are sworn to serve and protect the President under any circumstance...

Exactly, they are sworn to protect "The President," meaning whoever holds that position, not anyone by name. If Kerry won, then on January 20, 2005, they'd start protecting him instead of Bush as the active President -- even if Bush barricaded himself in the White House and lived off noodles until the U.S. Marshals starved him out.

Originally posted by krackel
yeah god forbid we get any hippies in power, they might start promoting crazy ideals like "peace" and "love" and "environmental consciousness" ..........crazy america hating hippies!

It's not the ideals themselves that scare conservatives -- who doesn't want peace, love, and clean land, air, & water? -- it's the methods they'd employ to attempt these things. You can't achieve peace by giving up your weapons of self-defense and negotiating with madmen. And you have to balance humanity with the natural environment; the only way to have a 100% clean and natural environement is if there are no humans. What good will destroying industry and capitalism do? And love? That's a personal issue, not something the government should be trying to regulate anyway.

Originally posted by ThunderCloud
You can't achieve peace by giving up your weapons of self-defense and negotiating with madmen.

how about this, there is no way to peace, peace is the way.

reply to post by FredT


John Kerry married Theresa Heinz, the widow of the late Pennsylvania
Senator John Heinz (yes, of the Heinz Ketchup fame).
Senator Heinz died in a plane crash. Ms. Theresa was a Pakistinian
Muslim, who upon Senator Heinz's death immediately began
donating tons of the late Senator's money to CAIR: with
specific instructions she wanted the rules and regulations
loosened for Muslim immigration.
John Kerry: well, not too much to be said there.

Hillary Clinton was scared to death of JFK Jr. Allegedly complained
out loud he was the ony one who could keep her from the Presidency.

JFK Jr. dies in mysterious plane crash.

Ron Brown, Secretary of Commerce under the Clinton Administration,
opposed slick willie's NAFTA efforts. ALL members of the Commerce
department were dispatched onto ONE plane going to Peru
that mysteriously crashed. Ron Brown had a bullet hole in his head.

Vince Foster allegedly was Hillary's romantic retaliation for willie's
involvment with Monica Lewisnsky and Jessica Flowers. Foster
was executed because of 'husband's' jealous rage.

One rumor is that Haig suggested to Nixon that he could use the military if he was impeached and removed from office.

Removal of a sitting president raises interesting questions...IMHO there seems to be a bit of a "dead space" in authority between the executive branch and the supreme court that could cause serious conflict if a president was ordered to leave the office but refused.

On a lighter note, the onion once did a witty piece about a president who refused to leave.

[edit on 8/30/10 by silent thunder]