Having successfully won re-election as House speaker on Thursday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is once again second in line to become president — at least on an interim basis — according to the rules of the presidential line of succession.
Pelosi, 78, in her second stint as speaker, now falls behind Vice President Mike Pence, 59, to take over if President Trump , 72, is unable to perform his duties as commander in chief. After Pelosi, rounding out the top five, are Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Article 2, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution states that in the event that a sitting president or his or her vice president is unable to act as commander in chief, owing to either removal, or inability due to death or otherwise, Congress has the power to declare “what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”
Furthermore, a law suggested by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 cements her position in the succession line, according to TIME.
After President James Garfield’s assassination in 1881, the Oval Office was almost left vacant because Vice President Chester A. Arthur, the first and only person in the line of succession at the time, was unwell, and Congress was out of session (Arthur did take on the role of president and served from 1881 to 1885.) In 1886, Congress passed a new Presidential Succession Act which made the secretary of state next in line after the vice president. – READ MORE