Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Commerce
Signed May 21, 2012·Barack Obama·77 FR 31155
Source
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Plain-language summary
Sets the order in which officials of the Department of Commerce act as Secretary if the Secretary dies, resigns, or becomes unable to serve. The line of succession runs through the Deputy Secretary, General Counsel, several Under Secretaries (for International Trade, Economic Affairs, Standards and Technology, Oceans and Atmosphere, and Export Administration), the Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, and finally the Boulder Laboratories Site Manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Officials serving in one of these roles only in an acting capacity cannot become acting Secretary under this order, and no one may serve unless otherwise eligible under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. The President retains discretion to depart from this order when naming an acting Secretary. It revokes a prior 2001 executive order and a 2002 memorandum that had addressed the same succession issue, and states that it creates no enforceable legal rights.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
Revokes: EO 13242, December 18, 2001
Compiled after the fact by the National Archives, so recent orders often have none yet. An empty disposition means no record, not no activity.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13613 of May 21, 2012
Providing an Order of Succession Within the
Department of Commerce
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of
1998, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq. (the “Act”),
it is hereby ordered that:
Section 1. Order of Succession. Subject to the
provisions of section 2 of this order, and to the
limitations set forth in the Act, the following
officials of the Department of Commerce, in the order
listed, shall act as and perform the functions and
duties of the office of the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary) during any period in which the Secretary
has died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to
perform the functions and duties of the office of the
Secretary:
(a) Deputy Secretary of Commerce;
(b) General Counsel of the Department of Commerce;
(c) Under Secretary of Commerce for International
Trade;
(d) Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic
Affairs;
(e) Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and
Technology;
(f) Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration;
(g) Under Secretary of Commerce for Export
Administration;
(h) Chief Financial Officer of the Department of
Commerce and Assistant Secretary of Commerce
(Administration); and
(i) The Boulder Laboratories Site Manager, National
Institute of Standards and Technology.
Sec. 2. Exceptions. (a) No individual who is serving in
an office listed in section 1(a)-(i) of this order in
an acting capacity shall, by virtue of so serving, act
as Secretary pursuant to this order.
(b) No individual listed in section 1(a)-(i) of
this order shall act as Secretary unless that
individual is otherwise eligible to so serve under the
Act, as amended.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order,
the President retains discretion, to the extent
permitted by law, to depart from this order in
designating an acting Secretary.
Sec. 3. Revocation. Executive Order 13242 of December
18, 2001 (Providing An Order of Succession Within the
Department of Commerce) and Memorandum for the
Secretary of Commerce of October 3, 2002 (Designation
of Officers of the Department of Commerce to Act as
Secretary of Commerce) are hereby revoked.
Sec. 4. Judicial Review. This order is not intended to,
and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive
or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 21, 2012.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed May 21, 2012. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.