6

As far as I know, the VPOTUS (Vice President of the United States) has no age limitations. With that, could a 30 year-old VPOTUS serve as president under the line of succession in the event the POTUS is killed or incapacitated?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
15

The Twelfth Amendment states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice President of the United States." Thus, to serve as vice president, an individual must: Be a natural-born U.S. citizen; Be at least 35 years old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Because the age requirement for President is 35 years old, the Vice President must also meet that requirement.

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    Incidentally, the question is not over. An early death of the Vice President would result in him being replaced by the President Pro Tem of the senate. This leaves two ways the succession could go (never tested): the Speaker of the House or the new Vice President; if both are ineligible ...
    – Joshua
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 21:38
  • 4
    @Joshua The death of the VPOTUS does not automatically elevate the President Pro Tem of the Senate to the VPOTUS. See the 25th amendment, in particular as it relates to Gerald Ford.
    – shoover
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 21:59
  • 1
    Well that settles that. Bad things could still happen but it's better answered in the other question involving a decapitation attack.
    – Joshua
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 22:13
  • 1
    The list continues quite a bit after VPOTUS, and for all members of the Line of succession they need to meet the same requirements to actually serve as president or acting president.
    – jcaron
    Commented Jan 15, 2016 at 1:40
  • Someone in the line of succession could fail to meet the age requirement, since the President Pro Temp of the Senate could be younger than 35. However, being in the line of succession does not mean that are otherwise entitled-to or qualified-for the Presidency. Madeleine Albright was Secretary of State (and thus 4th in line) but would have been skipped since she was born in Prague and not a natural-born citizen). This would also have prevented Henry Kissinger from succeeding the presidency.
    – Anthony
    Commented May 30, 2018 at 0:16

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .