A Question about Presidential Inaugaration

[Eternal_Freedom]

At what point exactly does the sitting President step down? Presumably it must be at or before the President-Elect is sworn in.

The question arises from a random thought that popped into my head last night. What if someone managed to assasinate the President-Elect, after the sitting President steps down, but before he is sworn? For instance, whilst he's taking the Oath?

[Soontir C'boath]

Presumably the Vice-President Elect would then step in.

[Knife]

And if not, the Speaker of the House. There is a line of succession that goes down pretty far to cover any sort of national tragedy to preserve the chain of command.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Can the Vice-President-Elect take the office if he hasn't been sworn in as VP?

And if the Speaker did have to take the office of President, what would happen afterward? Would he remain as President, or would they have another election?

[Alferd Packer]

The actual assumption of office happens at noon on Inauguration Day, not when the oath of office is taken. The oath of office is required for the President to execute the powers of his office, not to become President. Because of this, there's never any potential for a break in the line of succession.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Rogue 9]

Can the Vice-President-Elect take the office if he hasn't been sworn in as VP?

And if the Speaker did have to take the office of President, what would happen afterward? Would he remain as President, or would they have another election?

To answer the second question, the Speaker is second in line of succession; he would serve the remainder of the killed or incapacitated President's term if the Vice President is similarly unable to execute the office, without new elections.

This was a subplot in a dumb Tom Clancy novel once; a newly nominated Vice President was confirmed by the Senate, but the President (and most of Congress, incidentally) was killed before he could swear the oath, and the previous VP, who had resigned in disgrace, tried to claim he was the legal President for this reason (after, of course, arranging for his written resignation to be "lost" by someone in the State Department). Which makes no sense according to how the process actually works, of course.

[Wing Commander MAD]

U.S presidential succession is pretty well defined. I believe its goes something like:

• President
• Vice President
• President Protempore of the Senate
• Speaker of the House of Representatives
• Cabinet Members of the various government departments (Agriculture, Defense, etc.) in the order that they were created

If all those people are somehow unable to to take up the office, they are never in the same location for exactly this reason, I believe it falls to the state governors to choose the replacement. I am also willing to bet there are specifics in place for who can be considered for the replacement and what criteria they must meet to be selected (ie some form of majority). If you get to the point where the last method is hard to implement or impossible the country is likely a smokeing pile of rubble anyways and the office of POTUS is probably more of a formality than an actual position of power. There are no special elections or anything called, the new President merely fills the position until the next election in the 4 year cycle comes around.

[ChaserGrey]

You've got it right, except that the first three go:

1. Vice President
2. Speaker of the House
3. President Pro Tem of the Senate

And then on through the Cabinet departments as you outlined. Somebody came up with an order of precedence for the original departments, based on what I don't know. I remember that the Secretary of State is first in line.

And you're also correct that at every major event where a significant number of government officials are gathered in one place (inaugurations, State of the Union addresses, and so forth), there is a "Designated Survivor" who is very deliberately *nowhere near* the event in question and whose location is a closely guarded secret before and during the event. This can also be implemented during a severe national crisis where the normal leadership may be at risk of attack- the most famous example being VP Dick Cheney's "undisclosed location" on September 11, 2001.

Edit: For the real pedants- the Designated Survivor chosen for any given event also has to meet the Constitutional requirements for the Presidency- native-born American citizen over 35. For example, during the Clinton years SecState Madeline Albright could not be the Designated Survivor because she was born in Czechoslovakia.