Presidential Succession
To any who actually read this blog, first an apology for letting it languish. I have been doing most of my tax and government posting at www.freeliberal.com.
As we head toward January 20, I am thinking yet again about the tragedy scenario - what would happen if someone tried to take out the entire government by killing the President, Vice President, Speaker, President Pro Tem and Cabinet, which is the order of succession according to law (not the Constitution). By practice, one of the members in succession is always held in reserve, however if a nuke hit DC, even that one person would die, so our plans seem to have more to do with status than with actually rebuilding the government.
I offer an alternative, which will not make the Cabinet or the senior member of the ruling party in the Senate very happy - but is more workable and defensible.
In a real tragedy, if split second decisons are made, whoever is the senior military officer will likely make them, as any attack worth its salt will take down the lines of communication, assuming any cabinet members survive. We actually have more to fear from terror than nuclear war anyway, so split second decisions will not be necessary.
My proposal is, after the Vice President and the Speaker, the next step would be for the House of Representatives to elect a new President under the procedures outlined in the Constitution for election of President when no one has a majority of electoral votes - which would be a vote of te House with each state having one vote and the requirement that a majority of state is necessary to elect the President (26). Of course, it may be that the House cannot meet due to the lack of a quorum (and the issue would be raised if the Presidency were at stake). In this case, the Senate would meet to elect a Vice President, who would serve as acting President until the House could establish a quorum and fulfil its constitutional responsibilities. The beauty of this scenario, which does not rely on the ascension of the Senate's most senile member, is that if the Senate is also unable to meet it soon will be because its members can be replaced by appointment by their governors. As long as air travel is possible, a newly appointed Senate could meet in a day to select a new Acting President, who would carry much more authority than any surviving Cabinet member due to his or her selection.
As we head toward January 20, I am thinking yet again about the tragedy scenario - what would happen if someone tried to take out the entire government by killing the President, Vice President, Speaker, President Pro Tem and Cabinet, which is the order of succession according to law (not the Constitution). By practice, one of the members in succession is always held in reserve, however if a nuke hit DC, even that one person would die, so our plans seem to have more to do with status than with actually rebuilding the government.
I offer an alternative, which will not make the Cabinet or the senior member of the ruling party in the Senate very happy - but is more workable and defensible.
In a real tragedy, if split second decisons are made, whoever is the senior military officer will likely make them, as any attack worth its salt will take down the lines of communication, assuming any cabinet members survive. We actually have more to fear from terror than nuclear war anyway, so split second decisions will not be necessary.
My proposal is, after the Vice President and the Speaker, the next step would be for the House of Representatives to elect a new President under the procedures outlined in the Constitution for election of President when no one has a majority of electoral votes - which would be a vote of te House with each state having one vote and the requirement that a majority of state is necessary to elect the President (26). Of course, it may be that the House cannot meet due to the lack of a quorum (and the issue would be raised if the Presidency were at stake). In this case, the Senate would meet to elect a Vice President, who would serve as acting President until the House could establish a quorum and fulfil its constitutional responsibilities. The beauty of this scenario, which does not rely on the ascension of the Senate's most senile member, is that if the Senate is also unable to meet it soon will be because its members can be replaced by appointment by their governors. As long as air travel is possible, a newly appointed Senate could meet in a day to select a new Acting President, who would carry much more authority than any surviving Cabinet member due to his or her selection.
posted by Michael Bindner at 11:09 AM
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