- WASHINGTON -- The Unites
States should add an "assistant vice president" in the executive
branch in order to preserve the presidential line of succession, a panel
of constitutional scholars told a Senate panel Tuesday.
-
- The new position, based outside of Washington, could
ensure that the nation has a president if a large-scale terrorist attack
hit the capital and wiped out everyone on the list of positions to succeed
the president, they said.
-
- "This officer's sole responsibilities would be to
receive regular briefings preparing him or her to serve at a moment's
notice
and to lie low until needed " in the line of succession but out of
the line of fire," said Akhil Reed Amar, a professor at Yale Law
School.
-
- The president could choose a former commander in chief
such as former president George H. W. Bush, or a former vice president
such as Al Gore to serve in the third office, which could also be called
a "first secretary," scholars said.
-
- The comments came at a joint hearing of the Senate
Judiciary
and Rules Committees that examined the current line of presidential
succession.
-
- Experts and lawmakers said the 1947 law that established
the line should be replaced because it is poorly designed and possibly
unconstitutional.
-
- Under the law, Vice President Dick Cheney is first in
line to succeed the president, followed by Speaker of the House Dennis
Hastert, R-Ill., Senate President Pro Tempore Ted Stevens, R-Alaska,
Secretary
of State Colin Powell and thirteen other executive department heads.
-
- The inclusion of two members of Congress in the line
concerns constitutional scholars who say that a transfer of power from
the executive branch to the legislative branch was never envisioned by
the Founding Fathers.
-
- The Constitution stipulates that Congress name an
"officer"
to act as president if the president and vice president are
unavailable.
-
- "House and Senate leaders are not officers within
the meaning of the succession clause," Amar said. "The Framers
clearly contemplated that a cabinet officer would be named."
-
- Amar said that James Madison expressed a similar view
in 1792 while he was a member of Congress and that many legal scholars
agree.
-
- Sen. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican who chairs
the Rules Committee, said that the constitutional question is so strong
that a Secretary of State would have a "rather strong case" to
claim the presidency instead of the House speaker or the Senate president
pro tempore, possibly causing a chaotic situation and a court battle in
the aftermath of an attack.
-
- Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, agreed.
-
- "Whose orders should be followed by our military,
by our intelligence agencies, by our federal law enforcement agencies?
If offices are contested and lawsuits are filed, will courts take the
case?"
he said. "These are all questions America should never have to ask,
especially in the aftermath of a catastrophe."
-
- But Howard Wasserman, assistant professor at law at
Florida
International University, said that members of Congress should remain in
the line of succession but moved to the bottom.
-
- The Constitution's reference to "officer" does
not specify any department or branch of government, making legislators
eligible, he said.
-
- In addition, even a small number of surviving House or
Senate members can elect a leader, ensuring a president if everyone in
the line of succession is killed, Wasserman said.
-
- "So long as there is a working Congress, there will
be a speaker and president pro tem," he said.
-
- The senators and lawmakers agreed on one issue: adding
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to the line of presidential
succession
and placing him higher than most cabinet secretaries.
-
- Legislation to place him in the eighth spot behind
Attorney
General John Ashcroft has already passed the Senate and is pending in the
House.
-
- First published 9-17-3
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- http://www.bouldernews.com/bdc/nation_world_news/
- article/0,1713,BDC_2420_2265602,00.html
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