Thread: Has Obama changed the Order of Succession to the Presidency?

I wanted a list of names of the Cabinet and I noticed something a bit strange. The White House website,The Cabinet | The White House, fails to list the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in the Order of Succession of the President. Is the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 something else that got changed in the middle of the night or stuck into one of the Omnibus Bills orObamacare?

The Cabinet

The tradition of the Cabinet dates back to the beginnings of the Presidency itself. Established in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, the Cabinet's role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member's respective office.

The Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads of 15 executive departments — the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Attorney General.


In order of succession to the Presidency:


Vice President of the United States
Joseph R. Biden


Department of State
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
http://www.state.gov


Department of the Treasury
Secretary Timothy F. Geithner
http://www.treasury.gov


Department of Defense
Secretary Leon E. Panetta
http://www.defenselink.mil


Department of Justice
Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.
http://www.usdoj.gov


Department of the Interior
Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar
http://www.doi.gov


Department of Agriculture
Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack
http://www.usda.gov


Department of Commerce
Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank
http://www.commerce.gov


Department of Labor
Secretary Hilda L. Solis
http://www.dol.gov


Department of Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
http://www.hhs.gov


Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Shaun L.S. Donovan
http://www.hud.gov


Department of Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood
http://www.dot.gov


Department of Energy
Secretary Steven Chu
http://www.energy.gov


Department of Education
Secretary Arne Duncan
http://www.ed.gov


Department of Veterans Affairs
Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
http://www.va.gov


Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet A. Napolitano
http://www.dhs.gov
The following positions have the status of Cabinet-rank:


White House Chief of Staff
Jack Lew


Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
http://www.epa.gov


Office of Management & Budget
Jeffrey Zients, Acting Director
whitehouse.gov/omb


United States Trade Representative
Ambassador Ronald Kirk
www.ustr.gov


United States Ambassador to the United Nations
Ambassador Susan Rice
www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/


Council of Economic Advisers
Chairman Alan B. Krueger
www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/


Small Business Administration
Administrator Karen G. Mills
www.sba.gov/
The Cabinet | The White House
The Cabinet | The White House



Supposed to be this?

The Constitution sets forth the guidelines for presidential succession. In the event that the president dies or is removed from office, the vice president takes the oath of office and becomes the new president. He or she then appoints a new vice president, subject to congressional approval.

The Constitution gives Congress the right to decide the order of presidential succession in the event that both the elected president and vice president die or are removed from office.

According to congressional guidelines passed in 1947, the Speaker of the House would then become president. If the Speaker of the House dies or is removed from office, the president pro tempore of the Senate succeeds to the office of president, followed in succession by members of the Cabinet in the order in which their departments were created.

The 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, passed in 1967, provides for procedures to fill vacancies in the Vice Presidency; and further clarifies presidential succession rules.

1. Vice President
2. Speaker of the House
3. President Pro Tempore of the Senate
4. Secretary of State
5. Secretary of the Treasury
6. Secretary of Defense
7. Attorney General
8. Secretary of the Interior
9. Secretary of Agriculture
10. Secretary of Commerce
11. Secretary of Labor
12. Secretary of Health and Human Services
13. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
14. Secretary of Transportation
15. Secretary of Energy
16. Secretary of Education
17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs
18. Secretary of Homeland Security

---

However, the 25^th Amendment does omit some critical information concerning presidential succession.

There are two different concepts here: a person holding the Executive Office of the President of the United States (the actual president), and a person who is an Acting President (allocated presidential powers). Normally, these are the same person. However, there are a number of common cases where a different person occupies each role. This has important ramifications for the presidential succession. Also, note that any person who may potentially become Acting President must qualify for the presidency (i.e. be a natural born citizen, et al), otherwise, they can never be a temporary president. If such a person holds one of the offices on the succession list, they are passed over to the next person should the need arise.

The 25^th Amendment only somewhat improves the succession process; it does make clear that the vice president is to assume the office of the president (i.e. become the holder of the office of the president) should the current president die or resign. Article II, Clause 6 of the Constitution was not completely clear if the vice president merely became a temporary president, or actually assume the position of President.

The 25^th Amendment also provides for a method by which the vice president plus a majority of the Cabinet can temporarily force the president to step aside. In this case, the president retains the office of the president, but the powers of the presidency fall to the vice president, who is now the Acting President. The 25^th Amendment also indicates how the president can contest this temporary removal, and possibly regain the powers of the presidency (at which time, the vice president is stripped of his/her allocated powers).

The rest of the succession is set by federal law, and is not mentioned by the Constitution (or any Amendment). This law is the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which attempts to define a complete succession. This law is what states that the succession goes to the Speaker of the House, then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, then through the Cabinet. However, there are significant ambiguities as to whether the person that now holds the office of the president, or is merely the acting president (while legalistic, this does have some impact on actual law) - most interpretations are they are merely acting president.

In addition, none of the documents deal with the all-too-common problems of immediate temporary succession. The 25th Amendment requires a majority of the Cabinet (the principle executive officers of the US) to agree to allow the V.P. to take over should the President still be alive. The Presidential Succession Act mentions "inability" as one qualifier to allow for succession to take place, but that has never been defined:

• The president is seriously injured, but still alive
• The president is unconscious, but alive
• The president cannot be reached, but is assumed to still be alive
• The president is taken hostage
• The president is presumed dead, but there is still the possibility he is alive
• There is not a current majority of the Cabinet available (either enough of them have died, or they cannot be contacted effectively)
• The president is dead (or alive, but not functioning), and the vice president is unavailable in any way.
• There is no vice president and the president goes insane (or, suffers a mental breakdown, mental illness, etc.)

In all of these cases, there is no functioning Acting President - the current holder of the office of the president has not relinquished it, and no law allows for a quick (temporary) assumption by someone else.

These problems are serious. For, with no one as Acting President, the military chain of command has no leader, no legislation can be passed, and other severe consequences.

A common example is an attempted Presidential Assassination. For instance: when President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley in 1981, Reagan was immediately rushed to the hospital, unconscious. In the mean time, it took quite a number of hours before Vice President George H.W. Bush (who was flying back to Washington, D.C. on Air Force Two) was able to assemble enough of the Cabinet to allow him to assume the powers of Acting President. Given that this was in the depth of the Cold War, the United States was without a leader for 6-10 hours.

The fundamental issue is that there is no current method for allowing the next person in the succession to immediately take over unless the one ahead of them is dead. The rest of the succession policies take considerable time, during which no one has the authority of Acting President.
What is the order of the U.S. Presidential Succession