WI: Pre-1947 presidential succession is eliminated.

[Alberto Knox]

Under the 1886 Presidential Succession Act, the line of succession to the Presidency was limited solely to the members of the US Cabinet. The Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate weren't reintroduced to the succession until the 1947 Act.

This presents the possibility of an intriguing constitutional crisis during the period the 1886 Act was in effect. If (a big one, I'll admit) the entire line of succession were eliminated, how would a successor be found?

My own thoughts (assuming the apparatus of government is otherwise intact):


Both houses of Congress would convene and elect their respective presiding officers. A new succession act would then be introduced, and quickly passed, that would place said officers in the line of succession.

While there would be no President to sign the legislation, it would become law regardless after 10 days in accordance with the Presentment Clause. The now legal successor (either the Speaker or the Pro Tempore) would then be sworn in as President or Acting President, depending on the exact stipulations of this new act, and proceed to appoint a new cabinet.

This would resolve the matter with the minimum of legal fuss, though it does nonetheless result in a troublesome ten-day 'interregnum' where the country must make do without a leader.


Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[Captain Seafort]

Potential snag in the process: a split Congress, with extreme bickering between the parties, resulting in the House passing legislation to make the Speaker succeed, the Senate making the Pro Tempore succeed, and neither side prepared to back down.

 

[NHBL]

Constitutional Crises get MESSY. If it's wartime or another time of national emergency, something needs to be done NOW! one option might be to propose the Secretary of State's deputy as acting president, perhaps limited to having executive authority without bill signing powers, by emergency resolution of both houses, pending a more permanent solution--election or new legislation. In times of emergency, there NEEDS to be a leader that can take action quickly, and anything that decapitates the government that badly is certainly an emergency.
In any event, three's likely to be a power grab of some sort by someone.
When the dust settles, a deeper presidential succession will be near the top of the agenda!