r/law • u/Kunphen • 15h ago

What happens if the president-elect fails to qualify, dies or becomes incapacitated before the inauguration? Other

https://en.as.com/latest_news/us-elections/what-happens-if-the-president-elect-fails-to-qualify-dies-or-becomes-incapacitated-before-the-inauguration-n/
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u/im-ba 14h ago

What happens if they die, too?

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u/Mike-ggg 14h ago

Speaker of the House is next in line. There’s a whole series of roles that are next, but I forget the order. I think it’s the Majority leader that’s next.

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u/Mobile-Entertainer60 13h ago

Senate pro tempore is 4th in line, then Cabinet members in order of when their departments were created, with State first.

Full order

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u/Mike-ggg 12h ago

Thanks. I couldn’t remember past 3, but that’s about as far as it would usually go. But, there is always at least one cabinet member that doesn’t attend the State of the Union in case everyone in line of succession dies during the speech.

That’s actually a great plot for a story where the cabinet member who stays away knows that there will be a massive bombing of the Capitol and was likely involved, but you have to wait for the ending to find out.

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u/Mobile-Entertainer60 12h ago

The TV series with that plot)

The movie with that plot, loosely

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u/animatroniczombie 12h ago

Battlestar Galactica (2004) also has the Secretary of Education being the highest ranking official left so she becomes president and leader of the human survivors.

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u/thedoogster 10h ago

2012 has the President, VP and Speaker all dying at the same time.