http://www.ceveni.com/2009/01/who-is-next-president-of-united-states.html

And people who post crap like:
“After the Pres. and VP (who is also head of the Senate) the next in line is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Secretary of Stae comes after the Speaker.” without even reading any other postings on this blog are also pretty scary to me.

No, genius, the “Secretary of Stae” (sic) does NOT come after the Speaker, and the VP is NOT the “head of the Senate”. You’ve obviously been listening to Sarah Palin. Ugh!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession

Mike,

Is Hillary even going to be able to become the Secretary of State? It seems like her appointment would violate the Constitution (Article 1 section 6).
Comment posted on December 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 pm by Rob

Like Obama and Biden, Hillary will have to resign her seat in the Senate before taking the oath as SoS, but not before. Theoretically, she could resign her seat and then NOT be confirmed by her former colleagues and not have any job.

whale

FACT SHEET
Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC
January 22, 2001

Under the Constitution, the President of the United States determines U.S. foreign policy. The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department and the Foreign Service of the United States.

Created in 1789 by the Congress as the successor to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State is the senior executive Department of the U.S. Government. The Secretary of State’s duties relating to foreign affairs have not changed significantly since then, but they have become far more complex as international commitments multiplied. These duties—the activities and responsibilities of the State Department—include the following:

* Serves as the President’s principal adviser on U.S. foreign policy;
* Conducts negotiations relating to U.S. foreign affairs;
* Grants and issues passports to American citizens and exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States;
* Advises the President on the appointment of U.S. ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and other diplomatic representatives;
* Advises the President regarding the acceptance, recall, and dismissal of the representatives of foreign governments;
* Personally participates in or directs U.S. representatives to international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
* Negotiates, interprets, and terminates treaties and agreements;
* Ensures the protection of the U.S. Government to American citizens, property, and interests in foreign countries;
* Supervises the administration of U.S. immigration laws abroad;
* Provides information to American citizens regarding the political, economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian conditions in foreign countries;
* Informs the Congress and American citizens on the conduct of U.S. foreign relations;
* Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries;
* Administers the Department of State;
* Supervises the Foreign Service of the United States.

In addition, the Secretary of State retains domestic responsibilities that Congress entrusted to the State Department in 1789. These include the custody of the Great Seal of the United States, the preparation of certain presidential proclamations, the publication of treaties and international acts as well as the official record of the foreign relations of the United States, and the custody of certain original treaties and international agreements. The Secretary also serves as the channel of communication between the Federal Government and the States on the extradition of fugitives to or from foreign countries.

whale

Source is not MTV or Wikipedia, but shock of all shocks the actual State Dept of the USA. An ACTUAL source

http://www.united-states-politics.drewryonline.net