On October 18, 2023, Fox News reported that Senate Republicans sent a letter to President Biden expressing their concerns about the Administration’s listing of Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su in the line of Presidential succession. The news story is available here . In a letter to President Biden, dated October 17, 2023, thirty Senate Republicans stated “We write today to express grave concerns with your Administration’s apparent belief that Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su is eligible to assume the office of President of the United States pursuant to the presidential line of succession as established by Congress in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.” A copy of the Senate Republicans’ letter is available here.
Although the October 17, 2023 letter does not specify where the Administration’s listing of Acting Secretary of Labor Su appears, it is probable that they were referring to the White House web site, which has a web page on the Cabinet here.
In the letter, the Senate Republicans correctly point out that the line of Presidential succession is governed by provisions of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Code, Title 3, Section 19 and that Acting Secretary of Labor Su is not legally eligible to be in the line of Presidential succession. Furthermore, nothing in the U.S. Constitution or the U.S. Code gives the President of the United States any authority to waive, modify, or ignore the legal requirements for inclusion in the line of Presidential succession.
Although the Senate Republicans’ complaint is fully supported by the applicable law, their complaint is overdue and incomplete. Why? Because the Biden Administration has presented a legally flawed rendition of the line of Presidential succession long before adding Acting Secretary of Labor Su to it.
More than a year ago, the Biden Administration’s flawed rendition of the line of Presidential succession was discussed in my article entitled “Inaccurate Portrayal of Presidential Succession by Biden White House,” posted on The Bull Elephant on August 5, 2022.
In that article, I noted the White House web site had a page on President Biden’s Cabinet that contained the pictures, names and titles of Vice President Kamal Harris and Biden’s Cabinet members after the words: “In order of succession to the Presidency.” I then explained how, under the relevant provisions of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Code, Title 3, Section 19, the White House web site page on the Cabinet had the following errors:
“(1) It leaves out the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who is second in line of succession to the Presidency. See U.S.Code, Title 3, Section 19(a)(1);
“(2) It leaves out the President pro tempore of the Senate, who is third in the line of succession to the Presidency. See U.S.Code, Title 3, Section 19(b);
“(3) Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas are not eligible to succeed to the Presidency because they are naturalized U.S. citizens. See U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5; and
“(4) The last eight Cabinet Members listed on the White House website (appearing after the Secretary of Homeland Security) are not eligible to succeed to the Presidency because their positions are not included as eligible successors to the Presidency under applicable federal law. See U.S.Code, Title 3, Section 19(d)(1).”
The errors I identified in the August 5, 2022 article still exist on the White House web page on the Cabinet. [When writing this article, I noticed that the White House web page on the Cabinet currently lists 10 members of the Cabinet after the Secretary of Homeland Secretary, none of whom qualifies as an eligible successor to the Presidency under U.S. Code, Title 3, Section 19(d)(1). Since I did not keep a copy of the White House web page on the Cabinet that existed when I wrote the August 5, 2022 article, I will assume that my earlier article’s reference to eight non-Secretarial Cabinet members being ineligible was due to my mistakenly undercounting the number of ineligible Cabinet members listed after the Secretary of Homeland Security.]
The addition of Acting Secretary of Labor Su to the White House web page on the Cabinet merely adds one more error to the Biden Administration’s flawed rendition of the line of Presidential succession. The legal grounds for concern raised by the Senate Republicans in their October 17, 2023 letter existed long before that letter was sent to President Biden. It is puzzling why the Senate Republicans failed to complain sooner and why their October 17, 2023 letter failed to also note and complain about the numerous other legal errors in the Biden Administration’s flawed rendition of the line of Presidential succession.
If a future vacancy in the office of President occurs, the American people should expect and insist that the vacancy will be filled in accordance with the applicable provisions of the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Code, Title 3, Section 19 — not the legally incorrect, error-filled rendition of the line of Presidential succession posted on the White House web site. The American people do not deserve, and should not tolerate, such a critical matter being handled with the incompetence, lack of professionalism, or ignorance about or indifference to applicable federal law that is reflected by the flawed White House web page on the Cabinet.
