Succession to Presidency

This subject is covered by Article II of the Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act 1947. In Article II, Section 1, Clause 5, The Constitution states that, "In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation or inability to discharge the powers and duties of his said office the same shall devolve on the Vice-President."

The Twenty-fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that the Vice-President would take over the duties and responsibilities of the Presidency:

(1)  if the President states in writing to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House that he is unable to carry out his duties, and

(2)  if the Vice-President and a majority of the Heads of Executive   Departments    believe   that   there   is Presidential   disability   and  send  to   Congress   a declaration to that effect.

But it should be kept in mind that, the Constitution does not give the Vice-President any constitutional right to assume the title of the President.  So, a Vice-President will  act as a President if the elected President dies, resigns, retires, becomes unable to discharge the powers and duties or is removed from the office by the Congress. Which means, in case of the afore mentioned situations, the Vice-President would obey the duties and functions of a president but he will not be The President, unless he is elected President in the next election. What if both the offices of the President and the Vice-President become vacant?   The Presidential Succession Act 1947 gives the answer. In such an event, the law of the Presidential succession Act 1947 provides that the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as President. But before that, He must resign as Speaker and as Representative in Congress. If there is no  Speaker or if the  Speaker fails  to  qualify  as  Acting President,  (such  as,  if the Speaker is  not a natural  born American Citizen or he did not reside in U.S.A for 14 years) then President/to tempore of the Senate shall act as President. Again, he must resign from the office of President pro tempore and as Senator.

There are some criticisms of this Presidential Succession act.1947. Firstly, the Speaker or the President pro tempore may belong to the opposition party to the late President. Again, both the Speaker and the President pro tempore are selected for these offices based on their seniority. In that case, they would be too old to carry the burden of the President office.