can a naturalized citizen become speaker of the house?

[pruner]

is there any provision barring someone like Schwarzenneger from becoming SOTH because of the order of presidential succession?

or, if a naturalized citizen becomes SOTH is he/she just ommitted from the order of succession?

[eleny]

1. He can't be in an office

that's in the order od succession.

[bluestateguy]

2. I think so

You'd have to look at the Succession Act but I think a naturalized citizen can be Speaker or hold a Cabinet post, but if the presidency ever devolved upon them they would have to pass it down to the next person in line.

Madeline Albright was SecState, which is #5 in line for the presidency, but she would have been ineligible.

[eleny]

12. thanks for clearing that up for me, too!

[SteveG]

3. he can be speaker, but not President.

There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents a naturalized citizen from being a Representitive to Congress. Nor is their any qualification that would prevent any member of the House from being the Speaker. Here are the Constitutional provisions for being a member of House of Representatives or Speaker.


To be a member of the House
2 No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

To be speaker

5 The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.


To be President or Vice President the Constitution also requires the following:
4 No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.


The bolded part is what would prevent Aaaahhhhnold from being President. There would have to be a Constitutional Amendment passed to do this.. Here are the requirements for getting such an Amendment
Article V

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided {11} that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

[pruner]

4. thanks guys/gals

n/t

[ironflange]

5. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!

<gasp> Sorry, it's just the thought of seeing Ahnold trying to run the House.

[Clete]

6. Nobody in our Government follows the rules anymore.

They just get the complacent populace to agree somehow to idiots as rulers.

[MissMarple]

8. Let's trump Arnold with Zena.

:evilgrin:

Clete, I like your pic.

[DieboldMustDie]

7. Come on! The guy can't even speak...

Well, not intelligiblely anyway. ;)

[rman]

9. Amendment to let Arnold run for president

soon a naturalized citizen can be anything in the house

Washington Times
Amendment to let Arnold run for president
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20030715-043500-5589r.htm

SALT LAKE CITY, July 15 (UPI) -- Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah is pushing a constitutional amendment that would allow his friend Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for the White House.

The star of three "Terminator" movies has hinted broadly he might run for governor of California, a state in which the Democratic governor is under the threat of a recall campaign.

Under the Hatch Amendment, foreign-born people who have been naturalized U.S. citizens for at least 20 years would be eligible to run for president. Currently, the president must be native-born.
...

[Dookus]

10. that amendment

would also allow Jennifer Granholm and Madeline Albright to run for President.

It's a commonsense fairness issue, and should be passed. It's been supported by prominent members of both parties for a long time. It is NOT an Arnold Amendment. It is a question of basic fairness, supported by Barney Frank and others.

[0rganism]

11. the order of succession is spelled out in US code

and inelligible people, e.g. those not native born or too young, are skipped.

Read USC 3.1.19.a-d, and notice that subsection (a) calls on the SOTH, subsection (b) calls on the president pro tem of the senate, subsection (d) is the part that goes beyond congress to the various executive department heads. Then, check out subsection (e).

"(e)
Subsections (a), (b), and (d) of this section shall apply only to such officers as are eligible to the office of President under the Constitution."

(ref. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/3/19.html)


So let's say Ahnold is the SOTH, and both bush and cheney simultaneously croak in a freak gardening accident. The SOTH would normally be the next in the line of succession, but from section (e), we can see that he'd be passed over in consideration for succession. Then we get to the senate pres pro tem, let's say that it's, oh I dunno, Arianna Huffington. She gets skipped too, so we're into section (d). Now let's pretend that during the weeks before bush and cheney spontaneously combust, or whatever, bush has scrapped his secretaries of state and treasury, replacing them with members of the Saudi royal house. Then, the job of president would naturally come to rest on the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. And he would be delighted.