Page "United States presidential line of succession in fiction" Paragraph 56

** In the first episode of the second season, entitled " In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I " President Josiah Bartlet is incapacitated after being shot during an assassination attempt.

While the Vice President believes he should act as President, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry argues that without a letter from Bartlet stating the incapacity, no one has the right to claim authority.

The Cabinet does not invoke the 25th Amendment and the President recovers soon enough to prevent a constitutional crisis, though reporters pursue these constitutional problems after the event.

Although the fictional character, McGarry, was unaware that the Vice President could assume the duties of the President without the President himself having to act, this provision does exist in section 4 of the Act.