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Presidential Continuity Act

Introduction

Published April 2026

Based on Rev 1.0 of the Presidential Continuity Act

The Presidential Continuity Act replaces the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 with a comprehensive framework designed to address the constitutional, structural, and operational vulnerabilities of the existing law. The 1947 Act places the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate ahead of all Cabinet secretaries in the presidential line of succession -- an arrangement that constitutional scholars have widely criticized as structurally unsound, potentially unconstitutional, and capable of reversing the policy mandate voters chose in a presidential election. The 1947 Act also contains a "bumping" provision allowing a newly qualified individual to displace an Acting President already exercising the powers and duties of the office, concentrates the entire line of succession within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and leaves unfilled Congress's express authority under Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to establish an independent body for presidential disability determinations.

The Presidential Continuity Act addresses each of these deficiencies within the boundaries of existing constitutional authority. It requires no constitutional amendment. Its five reforms work together as an integrated system: each addresses a distinct vulnerability, and the package as a whole produces a succession framework that is constitutionally sound, operationally resilient, and consistent with the democratic principles underlying the presidency.

Key Components

  • All-Executive Line of Succession -- Removes the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate from the line of succession and replaces them with Cabinet secretaries beginning with the Secretary of State, in the order of departmental creation, restoring the framework that governed presidential succession from 1886 to 1947.

  • Prohibition on Displacement of Acting President -- Abolishes the bumping provision of the 1947 Act, establishing that once an individual lawfully begins serving as Acting President, no subsequently qualifying individual may displace them from the exercise of the powers and duties of the office.

  • Geographic Dispersal of Designated Successors -- Requires that at least one individual in the line of succession maintain a primary duty station outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area at all times, with the Secretary of the Interior serving as the statutory default designated successor.

  • Presidential Disability Review Commission -- Establishes an independent, bipartisan seven-member Commission as the "other body" authorized by Section 4 of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, providing an independent mechanism for presidential disability determinations that is insulated from the conflicts of interest inherent in the existing Cabinet-based process.

  • Repeal of the 1947 Act -- Fully repeals section 19 of title 3, United States Code, and replaces it with the succession framework established by this Act, with conforming amendments to redirect existing statutory cross-references.

Documentation

See the full legislative text and policy rationale for complete details on the provisions and design choices of the Presidential Continuity Act.

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Last revised April 2026

Prepared by Albert Ramos for The American Policy Architecture Institute