Newsom into Presidency without a vote scenario?

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

Video that has gone viral poses an interesting question...

Flaw to the Gavin Newsom could become president without a vote being cast scenario: The President of the United States doesn't just "appoint" a new vice president.  As per Amendment 25 the nomination by a President must be confirmed by both Houses of the United States Congress.  Without a V.P. the Democrats do not have enough votes in the Senate to get someone like Newsom in that spot.  The vote would likely end in a deadlock tie.  There have been a number in times in history where the V.P. spot remained empty.  In the case that the Presidency is vacant and there is no V.P. to take that spot, the constitutional authority to choose someone to act as President would devolve to the House of Representatives, one vote per State based on the original Article II provisions.  That said, one might argue that there is no specific language on how the presidency would be filled if we were to lose the President without a V.P. in place other than that vacancies that devolve upon the House would be filled by the House of Representatives "per state" vote.  The debate would then revolve around if that scenario "devolves" to the House of Representatives as provided in Article II.  With both Presidential and Vice Presidential seats empty some of whom I have conferred with have postulated that the line of succession would then kick into play, which could put Speaker Nancy Pelosi into the presidency.  I still believe that the scenario would require the House of Representatives to fill the U.S. President vacancy, but if a majority of the cockroaches in Washington fall into the "line of succession" argument, Pelosi as President would then be a very likely scenario...that's if she is still Speaker of the House at the time such a scenario was able to work its way into the American political game.

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