Presidential Succession

[dalej42]

Assume the Vice President and the Speaker of the House are assassinated or unable to perform his or her duties. Can the House of Represenatatives meet and choose a new Speaker who would then assume the Presidency? This scenario could happen if the President Pro Tempore of the Senate was of a different party. Because Speakers of the House have resigned in the past, the House can meet without a Speaker, choose a new Speaker, who then could stake a claim on the Presidency. Also, does anyone know if the Vice President can cast a deciding vote on who shall be the President Pro Tempore of the Senate?

[brianmelendez]

@dalej42

Assume the Vice President and the Speaker of the House are assassinated or unable to perform his or her duties. Can the House of Represenatatives meet and choose a new Speaker who would then assume the Presidency? This scenario could happen if the President Pro Tempore of the Senate was of a different party. Because Speakers of the House have resigned in the past, the House can meet without a Speaker, choose a new Speaker, who then could stake a claim on the Presidency.

The Presidential Succession Act (3 U.S.C. § 19) establishes essentially two classes of statutory successors: the Speaker and the Senate president pro tem in the first class, under subsections (a)-(b); and the Cabinet officers in the second class, under subsection (d). The first-class statutory successors hold office for the term’s remainder, subject only to the apearance of a qualified and capable President or Vice-President:

(c) An individual acting as President under subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section shall continue to act until the expiration of the then current Presidential term, except that -

(1) if his discharge of the powers and duties of the office is founded in whole or in part on the failure of both the President-elect and the Vice President-elect to qualify, then he shall act only until a President or Vice President qualifies; and

(2) if his discharge of the powers and duties of the office is founded in whole or in part on the inability of the President or Vice President, then he shall act only until the removal of the disability of one of such individuals.

The second-class statutory successors hold office subject to the appearance of a qualified and capable President, Vice President, or first-class statutory successor (or perhaps even a higher-ranking second-class statutory successor):

An individual acting as President under this subsection shall continue so to do until the expiration of the then current Presidential term, but not after a qualified and prior-entitled individual is able to act, except that the removal of the disability of an individual higher on the list contained in paragraph (1) of this subsection or the ability to qualify on the part of an individual higher on such list shall not terminate his service.

Thus a newly elected Speaker, being a first-class statutory successor, would bump a Cabinet officer (or a former Cabinet officer, since he or she must have resigned “the office by virtue of the holding of which he qualifies to act as President”) acting as President, since the Cabinet officer was a mere second-class statutory successor. But a newly elected Speaker would not bump a Senate president pro tem who is acting as President, since the former president pro tem was himself or herself a first-class statutory successor.

@dalej42

Also, does anyone know if the Vice President can cast a deciding vote on who shall be the President Pro Tempore of the Senate?

Yes, the Vice President can and does cast a deciding vote on organizational matters, including the election of the president pro tem, election of committee chairs, and assignment of members to committees (which always favors the majority party, except on the ethics committee, which is evenly split). The Democrats briefly organized the 107th Congress in January 2001 because, when the Senate convened during the first week in January, Vice President Gore cast the deciding vote. But when President Bush and Vice President Cheney were inaugurated on 20 January, Vice President Cheney cast the deciding vote, and the Republicans thereafter organized the Congress – and elected Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska as president pro tem.