Was the 25 amendment evoked

1. What the Twenty-Fifth Amendment actually says and how its parts differ

The Amendment establishes distinct procedures: Section 1 clarifies automatic succession if the presidency is vacated, Section 2 covers nominating a new vice president, Section 3 allows a president to voluntarily transfer powers to the vice president temporarily, and Section 4 allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet (or another authorized body) to declare the president unable to discharge duties and transfer powers to the vice president pending Congressional action ^{[5] [6]}.

2. Section 3 — routine, voluntary, and historically used for medical absences

Presidents have used Section 3 to temporarily make their vice presidents Acting President during planned medical procedures; for example, President George W. Bush transferred power briefly before colonoscopies, and such temporary transfers are part of the Amendment’s tested practice for short incapacities ^{[7] [8]}. The historical record shows multiple documented instances where presidents notified Congressional leaders that they were temporarily unable to perform duties so the vice president could act, establishing precedent for orderly, short-term transfers ^{[8] [9]}.

3. Section 4 — the never-used removal tool and its near-misses

Section 4, which empowers the vice president and a majority of principal officers to declare presidential inability without the president’s consent, has never been successfully invoked in U.S. history; administrations have debated it, and the Reagan administration prepared paperwork in 1981 after the assassination attempt but did not complete a Section 4 transfer, and scholarly and institutional accounts emphasize that Section 4 remains unused in practice ^{[2] [7] [1]}. Constitutional scholars and official essays note that Section 4’s extraordinary nature and complex political consequences explain why it has been a theoretical but not operational tool ^{[10] [1]}.

4. January 6, 2021 — calls, discussions, but no formal invocation

Following the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, public figures and some congressional leaders urged Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump; media reporting also conveyed that members of the Cabinet and others privately considered asking Pence to agree to invoke Section 4, but no formal Section 4 declaration was transmitted or implemented ^{[3] [4]}. Sources specifically document that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought Pence’s agreement as an alternative to impeachment, yet the process was not initiated and ultimately the House pursued impeachment proceedings instead ^[3].

5. Contemporary political calls versus constitutional reality

In later years, political actors continued to urge use of Section 4 in high-profile situations — for example, Representative Derrick Van Orden and others publicly asked Vice President Harris to invoke Section 4 regarding President Biden — illustrating that invoking the Amendment is a recurring political demand, but the Amendment’s high procedural bar and its untested political ramifications mean calls rarely translate into formal action ^{[11] [1]}. The historical record and legal analyses in the congressional and constitutional archives underscore that while Sections 1–3 are tested tools, Section 4 remains an uncharted constitutional remedy ^{[10] [1]}.

6. Verdict and limits of reporting

Answering the narrow factual question: no, the extraordinary Section 4 mechanism of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment has not been invoked in U.S. history, and in the specific post–January 6 episode there were calls and reported discussions but no formal invocation or transfer under Section 4 ^{[1] [3]}. This account relies on the cited institutional histories and contemporary reporting; if the question seeks a narrower moment or another administration, available sources should be checked for that specific episode because the reporting here summarizes the Amendment’s use across multiple incidents ^{[2] [8]}.