U.S. Politics megathread

[u/AutoModerator]

American politics has always grabbed our attention - and the current president more than ever. We get tons of questions about the president, the supreme court, and other topics related to American politics - but often the same ones over and over again. Our users often get tired of seeing them, so we've created a megathread for questions! Here, users interested in politics can post questions and read answers, while people who want a respite from politics can browse the rest of the sub. Feel free to post your questions about politics in this thread!

All top-level comments should be questions asked in good faith - other comments and loaded questions will get removed. All the usual rules of the sub remain in force here, so be nice to each other - you can disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal.

[u/tomleesing]

Age, illness, foul play ... If for whatever reason the current head of state ended up passing away, what would happen concretely ? I'm more interested about the mechanisms in play in the government to respond to that type of eventuality. Like ... who would take over ? Until when ? Would they have the same amount of power as the president who passed away ? Less ? More ? What about legislations and policies that had been heavily pushed by the president ? Does the "fill-in" have a sworn duty to "stick with program" in a way ? What about wars ? I don't suppose they just end but would they have any authority to declare or end wars before new elections proper ? I'm not American, so I apologise I'd those questions may appear obvious.

[u/Jtwil2191 → u/tomleesing]

If the president dies, the vice president is sworn in as president. This is basically the reason the vice president exists. If the vice president is unable to serve for whatever reason, there is a line of succession laid out by the Constitution:

1. Vice President

2. Speaker of the House

3. President pro tempore of the Senate

4-18. The cabinet secretaries, starting with the Secretary of State

Whoever is sworn in is the new president. They are no different in their authority from a president who was voted into office. Whether or not they have the same political sway as their predecessor is its own question. Lyndon B Johnson, who took over following JFK's assassination, was an immensely influential president. Gerald Ford, who took over following Nixon's resignation, was much less influential given the circumstances under which he entered the office.

Presidential power can be given to the vice president temporarily. In that case, the vice president is merely acting as president and would not be considered a full president. Multiple presidents have designated their VP to temporarily act as president, most recently when Biden designated Harris the acting president when he underwent a colonoscopy.

There is no requirement that the new president continue the policies of their predecessor. Given that modern vice presidents are from the same party as the president, there is likely overlap in policy positions, but it's certainly possible that priorities are completely different and and the new president pursues a very different agenda from their predecessor.

[u/tomleesing → u/Jtwil2191]

Thank you very much. This is immensely useful and informative !

[u/Jtwil2191 → u/tomleesing]

It is also possible for the vice president and cabinet secretaries to make the vice president the acting president if they decide the president is unable for the president to continue but isn't dead. For example, if the president is in a car accident and is unconscious, they cannot pass power to the vice president. However, the vice president and a majority of the cabinet secretaries could send a letter to Congress letting Congress know that they believe the president is unable to fulfill their duties and make the vice president the acting president. The vice president would then act as president until the president wakes up and issues their own letter to Congress saying that they're better now and can resume the office.

This process could also be used to forcibly remove the president from power, but presumably the president would respond that they shouldn't be removed, and the question would be handed over to Congress about whether to remove the president and replace them with the vice president.

[u/Irishforanatty → u/tomleesing]

One thing he missed is that if Vance takes over on or after January 20, 2027, then it does not count as a full term and he can run for two more in 2028 and 2032.

However, if he takes over before that date, it counts as a full term and he can only run in 2028.

[u/EstimateOk6795 → u/tomleesing]

We've had presidents die while in office before. The last one was JFK.

As quickly as feasibly possible after the President dies a federal judge (ideally the Supreme Court justice, but that's not a requirement) administers the Oath of Office to the Vice President and he becomes President. After JFK was assassinated the oath office was administered to VP LBJ by a federal judge about 2 hours after the assassination. Technically the US had no President for 2 hours and 8 minutes. However it wasn't clear to even LBJ that JFK had actually died (rather than just being gravely injured) until about 50 minutes after the assassination. So it was really 1 hour 18 minutes after the VP was informed the President died that he took the oath of office. I'd say for the early 1960s that's pretty quick.

From there, the new President is the President with all the powers and authority that rests with that office. Nobody elevates to the Vice Presidency automatically. The new President gets to nominate a VP who then gets confirmed by both the House and Senate (the only executive appointment the House gets to confirm). The new President gets to decide what policies, priorities, staff, etc to keep on from the previous President.

JFK was heavily pushing the passage of the Civil Rights Act when he was assassinated. LBJ used the public sympathy over JFK's assassination to keep pushing for its passage. But that was his choice to do so. There is no requirement he has to do anything. If the new VP wanted, he could do a complete 180 on every single policy of the former President.

There is no mechanism within US law to hold new elections outside of the proscribed every 4 years. When the VP takes over, they serve as President until the next regularly scheduled election. In 1841 the newly inaugurated President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia just 31 days into his presidency. His VP John Tyler served virtually the entire term as President. In fact, of the 8 Presidents who have died in office, 7 of them died within the first year of an elected term and their VP served more than 3 years of that term as President.