If a job is listed as part of the constitutional succession, is it legally possible of someone who is presidentially ineligible to hold one of those positions? Or is this a simple ‘no?’
Could, for the sake of a hypothesis, Bill Clinton be made secretary of transportation, or Arnold S. secretary of Homeland Security? Is there is distance down the line of succession where it would be accepted as ‘okay’ to have an ineligible person, as the potential for them needing to take over the presidency becomes exceedingly slim? Or is there a legal way that they could hold such a position with an ‘exception clause’ rendering them ineligible to take over in the event of such a catastrophe?
If it is possible, what is the highest position ever held by an ineligible person? Senate pro tempore would probably be most likely, but, is this the case?
Not American and no expert, but from previous threads my understanding was that there was no problem in holding one of the positions - the succession just jumps over the inelligable person.
Yes, such a person can hold a position that’s in line of succession. They are simply ineligible, should disaster occur, to move up. I believe the current Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, fits this description right now being born in China of Chinese parents.
As for the highest position that’s a tricky one. My instinct is with yours that it’s some President Pro Tempore or Speaker of the House, but that’s data that might take a while to find.
Madeleine Albright was born in Czechoslovakia, and therefore ineligible for the Presidency, and served as Secretary of State which is 4th in the line of succession. Apparently, at least according to Wikipedia, she was also excluded from the nuclear contingency plans too due to her ineligibility as a successor.
Not to start this argument yet again, but the constitution merely states that Bill Clinton is ineligible to be “elected” President again. If he ascends to the presidency by other means, the constitution is silent…
Fifth: President, VP, Speaker, President pro tem of the Senate, and then Secretary of State.
Since there is no “natural born” citizenship requirement for congress, there could be a speaker or president pro tem of the senate who was not be eligible to be president.
Or “moot,” is in obsolete, deprived of practical significance?
jtgain point is neither. His point is that the Twenty-Second Amendment says:
Since it’s only election that’s forbidden, a two-term President that runs for a House seat following his tenure as President, wins, and then becomes Speaker of the House would not be “elected” to the office of President if some disaster were to then befall the sitting President and VP simultaneously. He’d be assuming the office through means other than election, and thus not forbidden by the Twenty-Second Amendment (or, indeed, any other part of the Constitution).
So since the Constitution is, by this argument, silent on the issue, maybe you did mean “mute.”
[nitpick]Albright was not excluded because she was born in Czechoslovakia, but because she did not acquire American citizenship by birth (i.e., she was born abroad to non-American parents). I’m sure there are at least a few people who were born in Czechoslovakia who are eligible for the American presidency.[/nitpick]
Only the President and Vice President have to be eligible to be President. Anyone after that can still hold the main office but is ineligible to become President.
Then again, by the argument above about Bill Clinton as Speaker of the House, he’s not ineligible to be president, just to be elected president. So if you take an overly-literal nitpicky reading of the Constitution, Bill Clinton could in fact be Veep.
