a civics question

[DonCoquixote]

I know the Veep is president if the President dies. Is there a succession after that. ?

[LiberalEsto]

1. Speaker of the House of Representatives is next, I think

and there are several more as far as I recall.

[rurallib]

2. yes - speaker of the house is next

the presidential succession act of 1947.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Succession_Act

edit to add - 25th amendment (1965) spells it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[csziggy]

3. Wikipedia has a convenient list with who is in those offices now

1 Vice President of the United States Joe Biden (D)
2 Speaker of the House John Boehner (R)
3 President pro tempore of the Senate Orrin Hatch (R)
4 Secretary of State John Kerry (D)
5 Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew (D)
6 Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter (D)
7 Attorney General Loretta Lynch (D)
— Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell (D){a}
8 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D)
9 Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker (D)
10 Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez (D)
11 Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell (D)
12 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (D)
13 Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx (D)
14 Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz (D)
15 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (D)
16 Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald (R)
17 Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson (D)

{a}Not a natural-born citizen: acquired U.S. citizenship by naturalization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession

[merrily]

26. Some of those are horrifying.

[ballabosh]

4. I would assume

That if Obama or Clinton (or Bush) was appointed to one of these positions, they would also be ineligible to succeed.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. i don't think so...

the 22nd amendment only speaks to the election of presidents. if the role of president fell to someone due to succession, even though they have served two terms, they would still succeed... i think.

sP

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. If the president were to either die or be removed, the Vice President succeeds him....

we all know that.

Biden would finish out the term and be eligible for election in 2016. If Hillary were to select Obama as VP and the same scenario occured, Obama would finish out the term, but would be ineligible for re-election as president because he has served the maximum 2 terms already.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

10. that is my understanding as well...

they would finish the current term but be ineligible for re-election.

sP

[Terra Alta]

14. from what I understand

the qualifications for VP are the same as they are for President -- 35 years old or older, natural-born citizen, and cannot have previously have served two full terms as President. Obama, having already served two terms, would be disqualified from serving as Hillary's(or anyone else's) VP.

That is my understanding, anyway. I could be wrong.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

15. but could he serve in one of the Secretary positions

that could be elevated to President in the event of an attack on Washington that takes out loads of folks... that I think is the more interesting scenario. OR he could go back to the Senate, become President pro tempore and be third in line?

i think the answer to both of those would be 'yes'...

sP

[Terra Alta]

16. I think if Obama were in the Cabinet or Senate and something were to happen

the line of succession would skip over him and go to the next person in line. I think that's how it would go, but I could be wrong.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

17. there doesn't seem to be anything in the amendments

or the various Succession Acts that would be a problem for him to succeed to the office of President... but, greater minds than mine will have to ferret that out if it ever comes to pass (and never has in the nearly 240 years this country had been around).

sP

[NuclearDem]

19. No one's ever had to test it.

I guess it depends on whether you consider the Vice President elected or serving.

The 12th Amendment set the age, residency and natural-born citizen requirements for service, but the 22nd established the election term limits.

Though honestly I don't know anyone who would go from POTUS to VPOTUS.

[merrily]

27. One would think, but I don't think the Constitution says much about the VP.

[Quayblue]

18. woah

I think she should pull him as VP. Now my idealistic mind has moved in a whole nother direction.

Is this possible?! I love both Hilary and Bernie as candidates. Perhaps this is this push we should be asking for.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. You are correct

why if Hillary Clinton decided to run a clinton clinton ticket and Bill succeeded her, the next immediate election would be open.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. now this is making me want to go read some more

i agree with your assessment, but i can see problems that might arise... for example, if the People of the US elected a democratic party president and vp, but through tragedy both were lost and there was a republican party controlled house, that would flip control of the presidency to the other party. while the consitution and the succession acts support that... i wonder how the people would react.

sP

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. The Clinton- Clinton scenario is one possible crazy one

the other is far more likely. The 1947 act was passed as part of the national security act, so I do not think Truman and Congress had an issue with that since that assumed nuclear war. These days, as polarized as the country is... I suspect somebody would be filing very fast in somebody's court.

It could lead to a constitutional crisis, imo.

[ballabosh]

9. That's why I said I assume

Because I wasn't sure. But you may be completely right. It's obviously never been an issue. I'm sure the Supreme Court would have to chime in. Thanks for the reply.

ETA: I hadn't thought that it wouldn't be a full term. Now that makes sense.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

12. yeah, i'm not 100% sure either

but based on the reading of the 22nd amendment, it seems to hold water. now i want to go read some more! but i am sooo sleepy. i guess it can wait...

good night!

sP

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Speaker of the house

The succession list is a 20th century invention stemming from the cold war.

Wikipedia is not usually a good source, but this is a quick and dirty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Succession_Act#After_the_Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947

And to clarify the modern version. We have had several succession lists over the course of US History. The 1947 one was part of the whole slew emergence of the National Security State that also created the department of defense, the CIA and NSA.

[okaawhatever]

20. That is similar, but not quite, how Ford became President. When Spiro Agnew stepped

down Ford was House minority leader and he became VP. When Nixon admitted he was evil incarnate and resigned, Ford became President.
If the same resignations happened today, Nancy Pelosi would be President. I just think it's kind of trippy that Ford moved up so fast.

[WillowTree]

22. Ummmmm......no.

Doesn't anyone study the Constitution, even superficially, anymore?

If for whatever reason the office of the Vice President became vacant again, no one, including the minority leader, would automatically fill the vacancy. That's not what happened n 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to be the new VP and that nomination had to be, and ultimately was, confirmed by both houses of Congress.

It's called the 25th Amendment.

[okaawhatever]

23. I didn't mean that he became VP due to a line of succession (if so it would have gone to the

majority leader). I was referring to someone who had moved from Congress to the Presidency due to job openings.

[WillowTree]

24. I was responding to your assertion. You said, and I quote.......

"If the same resignations happened today, Nancy Pelosi would be President."

Not necessarily. It wouldn't even have to be a member of Congress.......or anyone else in government, for that matter, according to the rules of succession. The fact is that the VP now become President could nominate Phil, the guy who installed his brother-in-law's new kitchen cabinets if he met the age and citizenship requirements.

Doubt seriously that Congress would confirm ol' Phil, but with the gang that's been running around DC the last 10 years or so, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened. Not even close.

[DonCoquixote]

25. you kind of hit on why I asked

Now, in a normal society, this would be routine civics; however, let me thicken the plot. Would the GOP be crazy enough, and the Koches rich enough, to bring about a series of events to force a party switch? The idea of president John Boener is scary.

[jberryhill]

30. That was a National Lampoon piece once...

The Secretary of Transportation was plotting to take over the world.

[jmowreader]

21. It would take a serious act of mayhem to trigger the line of succession

If the president dies/gets impeached/does a Palin and the vice president is elevated, the new president then gets to pick a vice president...if the new president then Palins it, the new vice president will be elevated.

Where it gets fun: At the State of the Union address the president, VP, as much of the Congress as cares to attend and most of the Cabinet are in one room. When this happens, at least one member of the Cabinet plus a handful of Congresscritters are placed in a secret and highly secure location to serve as Designated Survivors.

[jberryhill]

28. And it is gender balanced...

...so they can emerge and re-populate the world.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

31. Up until 1995...

...they were at the Greenbrier: http://www.greenbrier.com/Activities/The-Bunker/Bunker-History

[jberryhill]

29. ...after that it goes in order by highest Social Security Number

So, you might be 221,345,855th in line.

[Thor_MN]

32. LOL.

Considering that SSNs are assigned geographically in the first three digits and sequentially thereafter, that would make it the youngest/latest over 40 to get their SSN in Arizonia, assuming that Arizonia has used the additional range assigned to them.

In general, for people who are 40 or more, the higher the first three digits, the further west the SSN was assigned. http://socialsecuritynumerology.com/prefixes.php

[jberryhill]

33. In reverse digit order

But that is only after the president, secretary, and treasurer of your local PTA have been taken out.