United States order of precedence
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The United States order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the government of the United States. The order is established by the President of the United States and can be changed by the President. It has no legal standing (for example, it does not reflect the United States presidential line of succession), and is instead used to dictate ceremonial protocol.
The order of precedence of the United States of America as of 2005
- President of the United States (George W. Bush) and First Lady (Laura Bush) (if present)
- Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate (Richard B. Cheney)
- Governor (in his state)
- Mayor (in his city)
- Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (Dennis Hastert)
- Chief Justice of the United States (William Rehnquist)
- Former Presidents of the United States (in order of term):
- American ambassadors (at their post)
- Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice)
- Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign states
- Widows of former Presidents of the United States
- Ministers of foreign powers
- Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (in order of appointment):
- Retired Chief Justices (None living)
- Retired Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (None living)
- Members of the United States Cabinet:
- Secretary of the Treasury (John W. Snow)
- Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld)
- Attorney General (Alberto Gonzales)
- Secretary of the Interior (Gale Norton)
- Secretary of Agriculture (Mike Johanns)
- Secretary of Commerce (Carlos Gutierrez)
- Secretary of Labor (Elaine Chao)
- Secretary of Health and Human Services (Michael O. Leavitt)
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Alphonso Jackson)
- Secretary of Transportation (Norman Mineta)
- Secretary of Energy (Samuel W. Bodman)
- Secretary of Education (Margaret Spellings)
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Jim Nicholson)
- Secretary of Homeland Security (Michael Chertoff)
- White House Chief of Staff (Andrew Card)
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Joshua B. Bolten)
- Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Porter J. Goss)
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (Anne W. Patterson, acting ambassador)
- President Pro Tempore of the Senate (Ted Stevens)
- Senators (by length of term served)
- Governors of the States when outside home states (by order of admission of State to Union)
- Acting heads of executive departments
- Former Vice-Presidents of the United States:
- Members of the United States House of Representatives (by length of term served)
- Non-voting delegates to the House of Representatives
- Governor of Puerto Rico (Aníbal Acevedo Vilá)
- National Security Advisor (Stephen Hadley)
- Counsellors and Assistants to the President
- Charges d'Affaires of Foreign Countries
- Deputy Secretaries of Executive Departments
- Solicitor General (Currently vacant)
- Administrator of the Agency for International Development
- Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
- Director of the United States Information Agency
- Under Secretaries of State and Counsels
- Under Secretaries of Executive Departments
- U.S. Ambassadors at Large
- Secretaries of the Armed Forces:
- Secretary of the Army (Francis J. Harvey)
- Secretary of the Navy (Gordon England)
- Secretary of the Air Force (Currently vacant)
- Postmaster General (John E. Potter)
- Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Alan Greenspan)
- Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality
- Chairman of the United States Export-Import Bank
- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Richard Myers)
- Under Secretaries of Defense
- Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Peter Pace)
- Chiefs of Staff of the Four Services (in order of appointment):
- Commandant of the Coast Guard (Thomas H. Collins)
- Commanders-in-Chief of Unified and Specified Commands of Four-Star Grade
- Generals of the Army and Fleet Admirals (None living)
- Lieutenant Governors of the States (by admission of State to Union)
External link
- Order of Precedence from the Office of the Mayor of City of New York (http://www.nyc.gov/html/unccp/html/protocol/precedence.shtml)