25th Amendment to the Constitution

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3.

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4.

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no provision for filling a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. When a President died in office, the Vice President succeeded him, and the Vice Presidency then remained vacant. The first Vice President to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford, who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6.

http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/aae/side/25amend.html

President Barack Obama's Cabinet

The rank order of precedence for Presidential Succession is as follows:



                                     VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

2.                                  Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House

3.                                   Robert C. Byrd President pro tempore of the Senate

4.                                 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

5.                                 Timothy F. Geithner Secretary of the Treasury

6.                                 Robert M. Gates Secretary of Defense

7.                                 Eric Holder, Attorney General

8.                                 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar

9.                                   Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

10.                                 Gary Locke as Commerce Secretary

11.                                  Hilda Solis Secretary of Labor

13.                                  Charles E. Johnson Acting Secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

14                                   Shaun Donovan Secretary U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

15.                                    Ray LaHood Secretary of Transportation

16                                    Dr. Steven Chu Secretary of Energy

17.                                   Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

18.                                Retired U.S. Army General Eric K. Shinseki Secretary of Veterans Affairs

19.                                   Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security

The first 3 individuals on the above list are the only elected officials on the list. The remaining individuals are cabinet members. Their order of succession is based on the approval of the cabinet post by congress and has nothing to do with the individual currently serving in that post or their personal dates of assumption of the office. The basic law sets out that the elected officials are first in line by the rank order above. The first cabinet member in line is the oldest cabinet position. When going down the list and getting to a cabinet member is because the members of the congress can not be located or are dead because of a disaster. However, once the Senate has reconvened and elected a President Pro Tempore of the Senate or The House of Representatives a Speaker of the House, no matter who the Cabinet member is that is President at the time could legally be replace by the elected official simply at his / her request. In order to keep the Presidency going in an all out war during the Cold War years it was determined by many Attorney Generals that deputy Secretaries in the Cabinet could also be legally sworn in as the President. This meant there were many multiple possibilities beyond the 16 primary cabinet members.   This law and the Top Secret plans and procedures put into place were one of the major factors in preventing war with the Soviet Union since it made practically impossible to completely destroy the Presidency and the legal leadership of the United States. In other words there was no possibility of a first strike by the Soviets to destroy the Presidency. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution will also ensure continuity of Government well into the future even with the threat of terrorism.