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Executive Order 13251 Amended 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation

Executive Order 13251—Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of State

George W. Bush George W. Bush
•
Friday, December 28, 2001
•
3 min read (605 words)
•
67 Fed. Reg. 1599

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (605 words) • ● Amended
🎯 Primary Mandate

Deputy Secretary of State; (b) Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources; (c) Under Secretary of State designated for political affairs pursuant to section 2651a(b) of title 22, United States Code; (d) Under Secretary of State designated for management affairs pursuant to section 2651a(b) of title 22, United States Code; (e) The remaining Under Secretaries of State, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such; (f) Assistant Secretaries of State designated for regional bureaus pursuant to section 2651a(c) of title 22, United States Code, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such; (g) The following officers, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as…

View all 2 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Foreign Nations & International Entities
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President George W. Bush on December 28, 2001, this order concerns Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of State. 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 duties of, the office of Secretary of State (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 Secretary. Sec. 2. Order of Succession.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Order of Succession

Deputy Secretary of State; (b) Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources; (c) Under Secretary of State designated for political affairs pursuant to section 2651a(b) of title 22, United States Code; (d) Under Secretary of State designated for management affairs pursuant to section 2651a(b) of title 22, United States Code; (e) The remaining Under Secretaries of State, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such; (f) Assistant Secretaries of State designated for regional bureaus pursuant to section 2651a(c) of title 22, United States Code, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such; (g) The following officers, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as…

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Exceptions

No individual who has not been appointed by the President by and with the consent of the Senate shall act as Secretary pursuant to this order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Foreign Policy & Diplomacy
🏛️

The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
§

"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." — 10th Amendment to the US Constitution (1791)

Mason would scrutinize whether this federal directive intrudes into police powers, land stewardship, or municipal domains historically reserved to local citizens. The Anti-Federalist demand is that federal administration must never supplant state self-governance.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
📐

Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
32 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
ℹ️
How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
605
3,629 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (4 sections)
Sec. 1Sec. 2: Order of SuccessionSec. 3: ExceptionsSec. 4

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 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. #sec-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 duties of, the office of Secretary of State (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 Secretary.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Order of Succession. (a) Deputy Secretary of State; (b) Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources; (c) Under Secretary of State designated for political affairs pursuant to section 2651a(b) of title 22, United States Code; (d) Under Secretary of State designated for management affairs pursuant to section 2651a(b) of title 22, United States Code; (e) The remaining Under Secretaries of State, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such; (f) Assistant Secretaries of State designated for regional bureaus pursuant to section 2651a(c) of title 22, United States Code, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such; (g) The following officers, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such: (1) Remaining Assistant Secretaries of State; (2) Coordinator for Counterterrorism; (3) Director General of the Foreign Service; and (4) Legal Adviser; (h) United States Representative to the United Nations (New York); (i) Deputy United States Representative to the United Nations (New York); (j) The following other United States Representatives to the United Nations (New York), in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such: (1) United States Representative to the United Nations for United Nations Management and Reform; (2) United States Representative to the United Nations on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations; and (3) Alternate United States Representative to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs in the United Nations; (k) The following Chiefs of Mission, in the order listed: (1) United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom; (2) United States Ambassador to Canada; (3) United States Ambassador to Australia; (4) United States Ambassador to Mexico; (5) United States Ambassador to Japan; and (6) United States Ambassador to India; (l) The following officers, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such: (1) United States Ambassadors at Large; (2) Counselor; and (3) Special Representatives of the President; and (m) The remaining Chiefs of Mission, in the order in which they shall have taken the oath of office as such.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Exceptions. (a) No individual who has not been appointed by the President by and with the consent of the Senate shall act as Secretary pursuant to this order. (b) No individual who is serving in an office listed in section 2(a)-(m) in an acting capacity shall act as Secretary pursuant to this order. (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this order, the President retains discretion, to the extent permitted by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., to depart from this order in designating an acting Secretary. (d) A successor office, intended to be the equivalent of an office identified in section 2 of this order, shall be deemed to be the position identified in section 2 for purposes of this order.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Executive Order 12343 of January 27, 1982, is hereby revoked. George W. Bush The White House, December 28, 2001

🔗

Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

References Executive Order 13261—Providing An Order of Succession in the Environmental Protection Agency and Amending Certain Orders on Succession
George W. Bush • 2002-03-19
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 13,251, 67 Fed. Reg. 1599 (Dec. 28, 2001).