Deep flaws in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 [1] make the Federal Government incredibly vulnerable to attack by a foreign power. In testimony before the Continuity of Government commission in 2003, Yale Professor Akhil Amar described it as, "a disastrous statute, an accident waiting to happen."
What does the law say [2] and what is its basis in the Constitution? Simply put, the 1947 act -- like its predecessors from 1792 and 1886 -- lays out the order in which various individuals shall act as President pursuant to the enumerated power of the Congress to make such decisions contained within Article II of the Constitution. The problem, however, is that the technical decisions made in crafting the 1947 bill are so flawed that they make its successful implementation in a grave national emergency nearly impossible.
The law's flaws begin at a fundamental level, with the order of succession that the Congress selected. The line after the Vice-President begins with the Speaker of the House followed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and then the members of the Cabinet. There's one obvious problem with this and one that's a little more subtle.
First, the office of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate has evolved into a ceremonial one that is traditionally held by the senior member of the majority party. In effect this means that someone in his or her 80's or 90's is likely to be the third in line to take up the presidency -- a distinct possibility during an immense crisis. But even if we handwave this away by arguing (I think foolishly) that no egocentric ninety-two year-old senator would be up to attempting to assume the Presidency at some pivotal moment, there is still a second issue: it remains an unsettled legal issue whether or not members of Congress are "officers" of the United States within the meaning of the Constitution.
Full Article
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Succession_Act
2. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/3/19.html"
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