Why wasn't the line of succession for cabinet members followed after they died?
Designated Survivor is based on the idea that the entire US government was killed in a terrorist attack, save for the "designated survivor", Tom Kirkman, who was off-site at the time. The line of succession for president was followed and Kirkman, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (12th in line), became the president.
However, the show early on has the problem that he does not have any cabinet members since they were all killed in the terrorist attack. But why can't they follow the line of succession for each of those?
For instance, the Secretary of State has its own line of succession. While I'm not sure who all would attend a president's state of the union, I'm quite certain that not all of the United Nations representatives (10th in line) or the ambassadors to six different countries (11th in line) would be there, so they would have survived. Why didn't people like these become cabinet members?
Best Answer
The senior surviving official of each department would become ACTING Secretary but to become actual Secretary requires confirmation by the Senate and they had all the Senators killed. (They were quite unrealistic,though,in having the Governors refusing to appoint new Senators until Kirkman made offers that they couldn't ask of him but their appointed Senators could...in reality the Governors would have been racing each other to fill Senate seats because of the seniority system,and the president pro tempore of the Senate elected once a quorum of Senators was seated would have been next in line to succeed Kirkman until the House,whose election would be governed by widely varying state laws rather than nationally simultaneous as on the show,had elected a Speaker).
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Are Cabinet members in the line of succession?
Current order of succession The order consists of congressional officers followed by the members of the cabinet in the order of the establishment of each department, provided that each officer must satisfy the constitutional requirements for serving as president.What is the line of succession for the presidency if he is killed?
If the President of the United States is incapacitated, dies, resigns, is for any reason unable to hold his/her office, or is removed from office, he/she will be replaced in the following order: Vice President. Speaker of the House. President Pro Tempore of the Senate.Is there really a designated survivor for the president?
In practice, the designated survivor is usually a member of the president's Cabinet, and is chosen by the president.What happens if the Speaker of the House dies?
Selection. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress (i.e. biennially, after a general election) or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. Since 1839, the House has elected speakers by roll call vote.It Wasn't Me
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