CDR: Re: A successful lawsuit means Gore wins!

[Trei, Peter]

> Jim Choate[SMTP:ravage at einstein.ssz.com] wrote:
> 
> What happens if by the day the new president is to take his oath there is
> still no clear winner? Even if the candidates get together and one is a
> gracious loser, the trauma won't be lessened. There will be literaly no
> faith in the president. What would Congress need to do in order to pass an
> emergency resolution that would allow the current president to stay in
> office until the issue is resolved. Could this be a new way to get a third
> term? Would the vice-president (who serves when the president can't) then
> be the next in line (assume the speaker of the house would be next if
> memory serves)?
> 
One of the good results of the current stalemate is that many of us are
getting crash courses in constitutional law. 

This is covered by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. See
http://www.greatsource.com/amgov/almanac/documents/key/1947_psa_1.html

There would be appointed an acting president, who would stay in
office only until the election was settled.

The order of sucession goes;

President				Clinton
Vice President				Gore
Speaker of the House			Hastert
President pro-tem of the Senate		Gore
Secretary of State			Albright
Secretary of the Treasury		
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General			Reno
Postmaster General
Secretary of the Navy
Secretary of the Interior 
Secretary of Agriculture 
Secretary of Commerce 
Secretary of Labor

I suspect that the upshot would be that Clinton would stay in office
for a while.

The other alternative is that the already appointed electors vote,
leaving out the unappointed Florida electors. This would throw 
the race to Gore.

Peter Trei