Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of the Interior
Signed April 14, 2020·Donald Trump·85 FR 21733
Source
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Plain-language summary
Establishes an order of succession within the Department of the Interior, specifying who acts as Secretary if both the Secretary and Deputy Secretary die, resign, or become unable to serve. The sequence runs from the Solicitor of the Interior Department through several Assistant Secretaries, covering Policy, Management, and Budget; Land and Minerals Management; Water and Science; Fish and Wildlife; Indian Affairs; and Insular and International Affairs. It states that anyone already serving in one of these listed offices in an acting capacity cannot become acting Secretary through this order, and that the President retains discretion under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 to name a different acting Secretary. The order revokes the prior succession order, Executive Order 13244 of December 18, 2001, which had covered the same subject for the Department of the Interior.
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, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., 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 13244, 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 13915 of April 14, 2020
Providing an Order of Succession Within the
Department of the Interior
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, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., it is hereby ordered that:
Section 1. Subject to the provisions of section 3 of
this order, the officers named in section 2, in the
order listed, shall act as and perform the functions
and duties of the office of Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary) during any period when both the Secretary
and the Deputy Secretary of the Interior have died,
resigned, or are otherwise unable to perform the
functions and duties of the office of Secretary.
Sec. 2. Order of Succession. (a) Solicitor of the
Department of the Interior;
(b) Assistant Secretary of the Interior in charge
of Policy, Management, and Budget;
(c) Assistant Secretary of the Interior in charge
of Land and Minerals Management;
(d) Assistant Secretary of the Interior in charge
of Water and Science;
(e) Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish
and Wildlife;
(f) Assistant Secretary of the Interior in charge
of Indian Affairs; and
(g) Assistant Secretary of the Interior in charge
of Insular and International Affairs.
Sec. 3. Exceptions. (a) No individual who is serving in
an office listed in section 2 of this order in an
acting capacity shall, by virtue of so serving, act as
Secretary pursuant to this order.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order,
the President retains discretion, to the extent
permitted by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998,
to depart from this order in designating an acting
Secretary.
Sec. 4. Revocation of Executive Order. Executive Order
13244 of December 18, 2001 (Providing an Order of
Succession Within the Department of the Interior), is
hereby revoked.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 14, 2020.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed April 14, 2020. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.