Lecture Notes: Chapter Ten - Survey of the Executive Branch

Presidential Line of Succession

• Incapacitation of President

  • Vice President assumes the presidency.
  • Detailed in the U.S. Constitution.

• Incapacitation of Both President and Vice President

  • Not detailed in the Constitution.
  • Addressed by the Congressional Act of Succession, 1947.

Order of Succession

1. Speaker of the House of Representatives

   • Elected by a majority vote in the House.
   • Conducts the affairs of the House.
   • Assumes presidency if both President and Vice President are incapacitated.

2. President Pro Tempore of the Senate

   • Elected by the Senate majority.
   • Manages daily Senate affairs.
   • Assumes presidency if President, Vice President, and Speaker are incapacitated.

3. Cabinet Secretaries

   • Follow the order of establishment of their departments.
   • Order: Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, etc.
   • Most recent: Secretary of Homeland Security.

Considerations and Precautions

• State of the Union Address
  • All key leaders are gathered in one location.
  • As a precaution, one Cabinet member is taken to an undisclosed location.
  • Cabinet member varies each year.

Notes

• The line of succession beyond the Vice President is statutory, not constitutional.
• The order of succession addresses an unlikely but possible scenario where key leaders are incapacitated at once.