The long-gone TV series called Designated Survivor showed, quite accurately, what happens if everyone in the presidential line of succession dies. But there was a lot of artistic license there. In the show’s pilot, everyone in the line was wiped out by a terrorist attack, leaving only the designated survivor.
A designated survivor is just that: someone who was handpicked to be taken to a secure location, ready to take over the presidency if everyone else died. Could it happen? Yes. Will it ever happen? That’s highly unlikely, but it is something to think about.
Suppose it’s the State of The Union address. Everyone but the designated survivor is there. All of the Supreme Court justices, the president, the vice president and everyone else in the line of succession is there. Into play comes the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, which was last modified in 2006.
Now suppose something terrible happens and everyone attending the yearly address is dead. Well, the path is clear, right? The designated survivor takes the oath of office immediately upon confirmation of the deaths.
Not so fast!
Something terrible happens: the designated survivor dies of, oh, say, a heart attack after seeing the matter unfold. Now everyone in the line is gone. What happens then? We call that a constitutional crisis. There’s no longer a clear path.
All we can really do is imagine that scenario. The chances of that happening are slim to none. In fact, it’s safe to say that it will never happen. But who would take over?
My guess is that, in that scenario, the senior Supreme Court justice would take the oath. But that can’t happen because they’d all be dead.
Once the presidential issue us handled, a vice president, by way of the 25th Amendment, would be appointed as would a new cabinet. We’ve likely never even considered something like this happening, but given that World War III is knocking at our front door, it’s something worth considering.
Some theorists guess that the military will take over, but that seems kind of crazy. How would they decide who the next in line, absent its commander in chief? It seems to me that passing through the Congress and Senate by way of seniority is a plausible response.
Seriously, is there even enough room for the entire line of succession, the Supreme Court justice and every Senator or Congressperson? And by the way, both of these bodies of government have their own designated survivors, so in theory their designated survivor becomes president. Whether that survivor is from the Congress or the Senate is another matter.
And now suppose both of those designated survivors die too. All of these things are theories because there is absolutely no possible way that all those people would die and there’s no way all three designated survivors would die. The odds of that ever happening are minute at best.
After the fuss has died down, there would likely be a special election nationwide so that we have a president that was duly voted for. But again, these are all theories and guesses. No one with any authority has addressed this. All we have is armchair experts and their wild predictions.
Given that we’re seeing World War III unfolding before our very eyes, we have to be prepared for anything and everything. Especially under this crisis, great care would be taken to ensure that the line of succession continues no matter what.