Presidential Succession
Presidential Succession
A proposal for a new presidential line of succession Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well. (For more, see the surprisingly gripping Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission , June 2009.) Proposed line of succession: President Vice president Secretary of State Secretary of Defense Secretary of Homeland Security Attorney General Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate Tom Hanks State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar Kate McKinnon, if available Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc) The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her) The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture The entire line of succession to the British throne The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament

The United States presidential line of succession is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office.
The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, the Act names two members of Congress as successors.  There are serious questions as to whether this violates the principle of Separation of Powers. The second issue is that the Act allows for anyone skipped over for succession to later assume the office if circumstances change to allow them to hold it. This would mean that the person in question could effectively unseat a sitting President, which raises serious constitutional issues.
There are also practical concerns regarding the Act. The line of succession includes all members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established, with the oldest departments first. No consideration is given to which departments would be most relevant to the Presidency, particularly considering that this type of succession would presumably involve a serious crisis, which the new president would need to be able to address immediately. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is last in the current Presidential line of succession, behind Secretaries in much less sensitive roles, such as those of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Education.
Another concern is that, by including members of Congress immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis. It even presents the possibility that simultaneous assassinations of the President and Vice President could function as an effective coup, shifting power to their opponents.
Finally, there is the issue that, usually, everyone in the line of succession lives and works in Washington D.C. Hence, a sufficiently destructive attack or natural disaster impacting the city could realistically incapacitate all of them, leaving the USA leaderless at a time of extreme crisis. It is already established practice in the USA that everyone in this line not gather together at once. In cases where most senior government officials gather (such as the State of the Union ), at least one member of the line of succession (referred to as the "designated survivor") is secured off-site, and would assume the presidency in the unlikely event that a mass casualty event were to kill or incapacitate everyone else in the line. However, disasters impacting an entire city remain a possibility, and no provision is made for them in current law.
To correct these issues, a think tank known as the Continuity of Government Commission prepared a report recommending a new line of succession, which would not include members of Congress, would reorder the cabinet secretaries so that the most suitable roles would be the first successors, and would include people who do not live or work in Washington DC.  The full text of their report can be found here . A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is here .
The first six members of the commission's list are taken from the current line of succession, though the order is changed; they propose that after this, five new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of assuming the presidency, if needed. Randall's list begins with these eleven people (combining the five new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list becomes increasingly comical and ridiculous.
Randall's list omits members of Congress, as well as other cabinet positions, in accordance with the report's concerns about constitutionality and qualifications. However, his other additions totally ignore these issues, including people with no apparent qualifications for the office (such as actors, athletes, and competitive eaters) and people who are constitutionally ineligible for the office.  The US Constitution requires that the President of the United States must be a natural-born US citizen, at least 35 years of age, and have resided in the US for at least fourteen years. Randall's list includes many people who don't meet these requirements.  Most notably, he includes the entire succession to the British crown, almost none of whom meet the requirement of being natural-born citizens of the United States.
It may be expected that many of the athletes, musicians and actors on this list are likely to be ineligible as well. Most professional athletes in the relevant sports are under 35 years old, particularly those at the peak of their careers (when they'd likely win MVP awards), the most popular musicians also tend to be younger than 35, and many who meet these requirements were not born US citizens (and some many not even reside in the US).  However, the existing line of succession can also contain ineligible people, who would simply be skipped over for succession. For example, at the comic's publication, Elaine Chao was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US, rather than native-born (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.
The title text mentions that ties will be broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for potential habitability . This is likely a parody of systems in which ties are broken by semi-arbitrary rules (such as the older candidate automatically winning a tie) or a randomized ones (such as ties being decided by a coin flip).  The position of Europa with respect to Earth at the time of one's birth depends on enough factors that it acts as a pseudo-random tie breaker, albeit a needlessly complicated one.
The presidential line of succession was first mentioned in 1933: Santa Facts
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) as of the date the comic was published .
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) as of the current date . (Last updated on 26 January 2022)
A proposal for a new presidential line of succession Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well. (For more, see the surprisingly gripping Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission , June 2009.) Proposed line of succession: President Vice president Secretary of State Secretary of Defense Secretary of Homeland Security Attorney General Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate Tom Hanks State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar Kate McKinnon, if available Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc) The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her) The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture The entire line of succession to the British throne The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament
