who comes after attorney general in presidential succession

by Ari Murray 7 min read

Current order of succession
No.OfficeParty
7Attorney GeneralUnknown
8Secretary of the InteriorDemocratic
9Secretary of AgricultureDemocratic
10Secretary of CommerceDemocratic
14 more rows

What is the Order of succession for the President?

Feb 07, 2022 · Now, here is the current order of succession in the United States (an amendment added the Secretary of Homeland Security to the list a few years ago): 1. Vice President 2. Speaker of the House of Representatives 3. President pro tempore of the Senate 4. Secretary of State 5. Secretary of the Treasury 6. Secretary of Defense 7. Attorney General 8.

Who is next in line for the presidency after the vice president?

Oct 06, 2020 · Order of Succession. As outlined by USA.gov, the succession order after President and V.P. is: Speaker of the House; President Pro Tempore, elected by the Senate. Secretary of State; Secretary of the Treasury; Secretary of Defense; Attorney General; The list carries on with other Secretaries of U.S. departments. Current Succession Rule

Are cabinet positions in the presidential line of succession?

The United States presidential line of succession is the order in which government officials replace the president of the United States if the president leaves office before an elected successor is inaugurated.If the President dies, resigns or is removed from office, the Vice President becomes President for the rest of the term. If the Vice President is unable to serve, …

What happened to the line of succession for vice president after 1886?

3 U.S. Code Chapter 1, Section 19 lays out the rest of the line of succession: Next come the Speaker of the House of Representatives (subsection a) and the President pro tempore of the Senate (subsection b) and "then the officer of the United States who is highest on the following list, and who is not under disability to discharge the powers and duties of the office of …

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What happens if the President dies?

If the President dies, resigns or is removed from office, the vice president takes over. But if the vice president can't assume the role, who's next? The Presidential Succession Act was passed in 1772, but the line of succession as we know it today was solidified in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

Who is the president pro tempore?

The president pro tempore, the longest serving senator from the majority party in the Senate, is third in line to the presidency. Currently, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is the president pro tempore of the Senate. Hatch announced in 2018 that he would retire after serving seven terms in the Senate. 4. Secretary of State.

Who is the secretary of the Treasury?

Secretary of the Treasury. Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images. The secretary of the treasury is the fifth in line for the presidency. Steven Mnuchin has served in that role since February 2017.

What does the Vice President do?

The vice president assumes the role of the presidency if the president dies, resigns or is impeached. The vice president also fills in if the president cannot fulfill his or her duties.

How many vice presidents have assumed the presidency?

Eight vice presidents in history have assumed the presidency after the death of the president and one after a president's resignation. When there is a vacancy in the office of vice president, the president nominates someone who must be confirmed by a majority in both houses of Congress. 2. Speaker of the House.

Who is Elaine Chao?

Chao was born in Taiwan. She is the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to a U.S. president's cabinet. 15. Secretary of Energy.

What happened to Joe Biden in 2020?

Presidential Succession Act of 1947 Set Line of Succession for US President. When Joe Biden won the 2020 US Presidential election, many people wondered what would happen if he passed away while in office. After all, President Biden would be 78 years of age when he stepped into the White House in 2021, which would make him ...

How old is Biden when he becomes president?

After all, President Biden would be 78 years of age when he stepped into the White House in 2021, which would make him the oldest US President in history.

What is the Presidential Succession Act?

This long line of succession deals with the possibility that multiple people in the line of succession might be killed or pass away at the same time. -. To start, in order to be eligible to serve as President, you must:

How old do you have to be to be a president?

To start, in order to be eligible to serve as President, you must: 1) Be a natural-born citizen of the United States. 2) Be at least 35 years of age. 3) Have been a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. -.

Order of Succession

As outlined by USA.gov, the succession order after President and V.P. is:

Current Succession Rule

The policy has been in place since July 1947 when President Harry Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act, according to the U.S. Senate's website. This act established several key points of succession:

What is the line of succession?

The United States Presidential line of succession is the order in which government officials replace the president of the United States if the president leaves office before an elected successor is inaugurated. If the President dies, resigns or is removed from office, the Vice President becomes President for the rest of the term. If the Vice President is unable to serve, Speaker of the House acts as President.

Who replaces the President if the President is not able to continue?

The United States Constitution says that the Vice President of the United States is the person who will replace the President if the President is not able to continue. It is very important to know who the new president will be if they are not able to serve any longer.

When did the 20th amendment come into effect?

One of the biggest oversights had to do with when exactly someone becomes president. The 20th amendment, passed in 1933 , is generally about when a president-elect becomes president. It set the date for January 20th every year following a presidential election.

Who changed the succession order?

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed by President Harry Truman, changed the order again to what it is today. The cabinet members are ordered in the line of succession according to the date their offices were established.

What happens when a president dies in office?

When a president died in office, the vice president succeeded him, and the vice presidency then remained vacant. This became a pressing issue when then-VP Spiro Agnew resigned his post. Per the amendment, the president would nominate a new VP to be confirmed by the house.

Who was the first vice president to be elected?

The first vice president to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford , who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6. Gerald Ford assumed the presidency when Nixon resigned, and he in turn nominated his own VP.

What is the 25th amendment?

The 25th Amendment also provides for the vice president and the government to remove the president from their position if they are considered unable to perform their duties.

Who presides over the Senate?

1. The president pro tempore presides over the Senate when the vice president is absent. The president pro tempore is elected by the Senate, but by tradition the position is held by the senior member of the majority party.

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Current Order of Succession

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The current presidential order of succession was established by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, as amended. The order consists of Congressional officers followed by the members of the cabinet in the order of the establishment of each department, provided that each officer must satisfy the constitutional requiremen…
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Constitutional Provisions

  • Presidential eligibility
    Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for holding the presidency: One must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years of age and have been a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years.[B]
  • Presidential succession
    The presidential line of succession is mentioned in four places in the Constitution: 1. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 makes the vice president first in the line of succession and allows the Congressto provide by law for cases in which neither the president nor vice president can serve. …
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Succession Acts

  • Act of 1792
    The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 (Full text ) provided for succession after the president and vice president: first, the president pro tempore of the Senate, followed by the speaker of the House. The statute provided that the presidential successor would serve in an acting capacity, h…
  • Act of 1886
    The Presidential Succession Act of 1886 (Full text ) established succession to include the members of the president's cabinet in the order of the establishment of the various departments, beginning with the Secretary of State,[D] and stipulated that any official discharging the powers …
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Ambiguities Regarding Succession and Inability

  • Although the Presidential Succession Clause in Article II of the Constitution clearly provided for the vice president to take over the "powers and duties" of the presidency in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability, left unclear was whether the vice president became president of the United States or simply temporarily acted as president in a case of suc…
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Presidential Succession by Vice Presidents

  • Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term, eight due to the president's death, and one due to the president's resignation from office. Additionally, two vice presidents have temporarily assumed the powers and duties of the presidency as acting president, as authorized by Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment: George H. W. Bush did so once, on July …
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Presidential Succession Beyond The Vice President

  • While several vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency upon the death or resignation of the president, and a number of them have died or resigned, the offices of president and vice president have never been simultaneously vacant;[G][H] thus no other officer in the presidential line of succession has ever been called upon to act as president. There was potential for such a …
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Contemporary Issues and Concerns

  • In 2003, the Continuity of Government Commissionsuggested that the current law has "at least seven significant issues ... that warrant attention," specifically: 1. The reality that all figures in the current line of succession work and reside in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. In the event of a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack, it is possible that everyone on the list would be killed or in…
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See Also

Further Reading

  1. Baker, M. Miller (1 December 2001). "Fools, Drunkards, & Presidential Succession". Federalist Society.
  2. Feerick, John D. (2011). "Presidential Succession and Inability: Before and After the Twenty-Fifth Amendment". Fordham Law Review. 79 (3): 907–949. Also available here.
  3. Neale, Thomas H. (October 3, 2008). Presidential Succession: Perspectives, Contemporary A…
  1. Baker, M. Miller (1 December 2001). "Fools, Drunkards, & Presidential Succession". Federalist Society.
  2. Feerick, John D. (2011). "Presidential Succession and Inability: Before and After the Twenty-Fifth Amendment". Fordham Law Review. 79 (3): 907–949. Also available here.
  3. Neale, Thomas H. (October 3, 2008). Presidential Succession: Perspectives, Contemporary Analysis, and 110th Congress Proposed Legislation. Congressional Research ServiceReport for Congress. RL34692.
  4. Whitney, Gleaves (2004). "Presidential Succession". Ask Gleaves. Paper 57. Grand Valley State University.