User:LizArchive/Presidential line of succession

The presidential line of succession is the order in which officials of the United States federal government assume the powers and duties of the office of president of the United States if the incumbent president becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office. The order of succession specifies that the office passes to the vice president; if the vice presidency is simultaneously vacant, or if the vice president is also incapacitated, the powers and duties of the presidency pass to the speaker of the House of Representatives, president pro tempore of the Senate, and then Cabinet secretaries, depending on eligibility.

Presidential succession is referred to multiple times in the U.S. Constitution – Article II, Section 1, Clause 6, as well as the 12th Amendment, 20th Amendment, and 25th Amendment. The vice president is designated as first in the presidential line of succession by the Article II succession clause, which also authorizes Congress to provide for a line of succession beyond the vice president; it has done so on three occasions. The current Presidential Succession Act was adopted in 1996. The 25th Amendment also establishes procedures for filling an intra-term vacancy in the office of the vice president.

Current order of succession
The current presidential order of succession was established by the Presidential Succession Act of 1996. The order consists of Congressional officers followed by the members of the cabinet in the order of the establishment of each department, provided that each officer must satisfy the constitutional requirements for serving as president. In the table, the absence of a number in the first column indicates that the incumbent is ineligible.