United States order of precedence

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 office of the President of the United States and can be changed by the President, though in practice it is fairly established and rarely modified. 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 United States Department of State is responsible for enforcing matters of protocol in U.S. diplomacy.

The order of precedence of the United States of America as of 2006

President of the United States (George Walker Bush) and First Lady (Laura Welch Bush) (if present)
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate (Richard Bruce Cheney) and Mrs. (Lynne Cheney) (if present)
Governor (while in his or her state)
Mayor (while in his or her city)
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (John Dennis Hastert)
Chief Justice of the United States (John Glover Roberts, Jr.)
Former Presidents of the United States (in order of term):
#Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (1974–1977)
#James Earl Carter, Jr. (1977–1981)
#George Herbert Walker Bush (1989–1993)
#William Jefferson Clinton (1993–2001)
U.S. ambassadors (while at their posts)
United States Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice)
Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign states
Widows of former Presidents of the United States
#Claudia Alta Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson
#Nancy Davis Reagan
Ministers of foreign powers
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (in order of appointment):
#John Paul Stevens
#Antonin E. Scalia
#Anthony McLeod Kennedy
#David Hackett Souter
#Clarence Thomas
#Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg
#Stephen Gerald Breyer
#Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
Retired Chief Justices (none now living)
Retired Associate Justices of the Supreme Court
#Sandra Day O'Connor
Members of the United States Cabinet (in the order of the creation of their departments; note that the U.S. Secretary of State already appears above, at #9):
#Secretary of the Treasury (Henry Merritt Paulson, Jr.)
#Secretary of Defense (Donald Henry Rumsfeld)
#Attorney General (Alberto R. Gonzales)
#Secretary of the Interior (Dirk Arthur Kempthorne)
#Secretary of Agriculture (Michael Owen Johanns)
#Secretary of Commerce (Carlos M. Gutierrez)
#Secretary of Labor (Elaine Lan Chao)
#Secretary of Health and Human Services (Michael Okerlund Leavitt)
#Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Alphonso Roy Jackson)
#Secretary of Transportation (Norman Yoshio Mineta)
#Secretary of Energy (Samuel Wright Bodman)
#Secretary of Education (Margaret Spellings)
#Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Robert James Nicholson)
#Secretary of Homeland Security (Michael Chertoff)
White House Chief of Staff (Joshua Brewster Bolten)
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Robert Jones Portman)
Director of National Intelligence (John Negroponte)
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (John Robert Bolton)
President Pro Tempore of the Senate (Theodore Fulton Stevens)
United States 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 (in order of term):
#Walter Frederick Mondale (1977–1981)
#James Danforth Quayle (1989–1993)
#Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (1993–2001)
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 to the President (Stephen John Hadley)
Counselors and Assistants to the President
Charges d'Affaires of Foreign Countries
Deputy Secretaries of Executive Departments
Solicitor General (Paul D. Clement)
Administrator of the Agency for International Development (Randall L. Tobias)
Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Robert Joseph)
Under Secretaries of State and Counsels
Under Secretaries of Executive Departments
U.S. Ambassadors at Large
Secretaries of the United States Armed Forces:
#Secretary of the Army (Francis J. Harvey)
#Secretary of the Navy (Donald C. Winter)
#Secretary of the Air Force (Michael Wynne)
Postmaster General (John E. Potter)
Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Ben Bernanke)
Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (James L. Connaughton)
Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (James H. Lambright)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Peter Pace)
Under Secretaries of Defense
Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Edmund P. Giambastiani)
Chiefs of Staff of the Four Services (in order of appointment):
#Chief of Staff of the Air Force (T. Michael Moseley)
#Commandant of the Marine Corps (Michael W. Hagee)
#Chief of Staff of the Army (Peter Jan Schoomaker)
#Chief of Naval Operations (Michael G. Mullen)
Commandant of the Coast Guard (Thad W. Allen)
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 links

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