Presidential Succession

The Constitution provides that the vice president shall become president in the case of the removal, death, or resignation of the president. It also gives Congress the power to specify which officers of the United States should follow the vice president in the line of succession. Congress passed three such laws in 1794, in 1886, and in a 1947 statute that is still in effect. Under current law, the Speaker of the House, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the cabinet officers in order of the creation of their respective departments follow the vice president.

Provision is sometimes made on extraordinary occasions, such as the State of the Union Address, to exclude the attendance of one person in the line of succession in case disaster was to strike.

The Continuity of Government Commission will address the issue of presidential succession in its second phase. Constitutional experts have raised a number of concerns about the existing statute. All of the people in the line of succession are in Washington, DC, raising the possibility of a cataclysmic event that would knock out everyone in line to the presidency. Some have suggested that governors be included in the line of succession. There has been a long running constitutional debate whether members of Congress qualify as officers of the United States and can be specified as part of the line of succession.

On September 16, 2003, the Senate Judiciay and Rules Committees held a joint hearing to discuss the complexities of presidential succession and the possible need and methods for reform. The Commission's Executive Director, John Fortier, testified on a panel of experts, including Akhil Amar (Yale Law School), M.Miller Baker (McDermott, Will & Emery), and Howard Wasserman (Florida International University College of Law) on the constitutionality of the 1947 Presidential Succession Act. Read their testimonies, as well as Senators Hatch, Leahy, and Cornyn's opening statements for the hearing.