Maybe it’s time Americans had one more constitutional safeguard: the power to recall a sitting president.

Maybe it’s time Americans had one more constitutional safeguard: the power to recall a sitting president.

Right now, voters cannot directly remove a president between elections, no matter how angry or alarmed they become.

The Constitution places that responsibility largely in the hands of political institutions. The House can impeach a president, but removal requires conviction by a two-thirds Senate vote. The 25th Amendment provides another mechanism when a president is unable to perform the duties of office, but it is not a public recall process.

That means if Congress refuses to act, ordinary voters essentially have to wait until the next presidential election.

A constitutional amendment could change that by establishing a national recall process with an appropriately high threshold — perhaps requiring millions of verified signatures before triggering a nationwide vote.

Such a power would need strong safeguards so it couldn’t become a routine partisan weapon.

But the larger question deserves debate:

If presidents ultimately work for the American people, should the American people have a constitutional mechanism to fire them before their term ends?