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[mainiac]

What happens if you serve two term of president (for a full 8 years), you are elected vice president, and something happens to the new president?

The 12th amendment states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."  The 22nd amendment states that anyone who's served 6 years as president is ineligible to be president.  Therefore anyone who's served two terms as president is ineligible to be vice president and this situation could not arise.

Now you could imagine that there is a slight amount of gray area as you could imagine that the restrictions in the 22nd amendment aren't included in the 12th for reasons explained in various latin words.  But it's a longshot and nobody would be stupid enough to test that theory.  Why would a party risk running a candidate who'd be so likely to be found ineligible by the supreme court?

[Osmosis Jones]

Why would a party risk running a candidate who'd be so likely to be found ineligible by the supreme court?

For SCIENCE?

[misko27]

Why would a party risk running a candidate who'd be so likely to be found ineligible by the supreme court?

For SCIENCE?

Politicians are rarely if ever as SCIENTIFIC as they should be.

[Nadaka]

However, a former president could be elected to the house, and become the speaker. And then if the president and vice president die, he would be next in line to become president.

[Osmosis Jones]

Why would a party risk running a candidate who'd be so likely to be found ineligible by the supreme court?

For SCIENCE?

Politicians are rarely if ever as SCIENTIFIC as they should be.

Alas, poor SCIENCE!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

However, a former president could be elected to the house, and become the speaker. And then if the president and vice president die, he would be next in line to become president.

In which case President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President.

[misko27]

However, a former president could be elected to the house, and become the speaker. And then if the president and vice president die, he would be next in line to become president.

In which case President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President.

What if their BOTH former presidents? No more house of Congress.

[lordcooper]

However, a former president could be elected to the house, and become the speaker. And then if the president and vice president die, he would be next in line to become president.

In which case President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President.

What if their BOTH former presidents? No more house of Congress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdDwxdqLyGg#t=2m06s

[Flying Dice]

However, a former president could be elected to the house, and become the speaker. And then if the president and vice president die, he would be next in line to become president.

In which case President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President.

What if their BOTH former presidents? No more house of Congress.

You keep going down the line until you find someone eligible. I doubt that it is physically possible to have 17 living former 2-term presidents in the 17 positions after the President in the line of succession. People don't live that long.

[Descan]

Let's just get this over with and say that every single person in line to be president, is a former president. It's a house of presidents, too. And a senate.

Everyone is and was a president.

What now, _motherfucker?

[misko27]

However, a former president could be elected to the house, and become the speaker. And then if the president and vice president die, he would be next in line to become president.

In which case President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President.

What if their BOTH former presidents? No more house of Congress.

You keep going down the line until you find someone eligible. I doubt that it is physically possible to have 17 living former 2-term presidents in the 17 positions after the President in the line of succession. People don't live that long.

Okay, what if they were all in a plane that crashed? Like with Poland?
 
Also, it could be like, the future. Where people live forever. And there are no births. Presidencies in office would acculmalate.

[Heron TSG]

According to Wikipedia...

If Obama dies, here is the chain of replacements. If someone's ineligible, they're skipped.

1    Vice President of the United States              Joe Biden (D)
2    Speaker of the House                             John Boehner (R)
3    President pro tempore of the Senate              Daniel Inouye (D)
4    Secretary of State                               Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
5    Secretary of the Treasury                        Timothy Geithner (I)
6    Secretary of Defense                             Leon Panetta (D)
7    Attorney General                                 Eric Holder (D)
8    Secretary of the Interior                        Ken Salazar (D)
9    Secretary of Agriculture                         Tom Vilsack (D)
--    Acting Secretary of Commerce                    Rebecca Blank (D) (It's unclear whether an acting secretary is eligible.)
10    Secretary of Labor                              Hilda Solis (D)
11    Secretary of Health and Human Services          Kathleen Sebelius (D)
12    Secretary of Housing and Urban Development      Shaun Donovan (D)
13    Secretary of Transportation                     Ray LaHood (R)
14    Secretary of Energy                             Steven Chu (D)
15    Secretary of Education                          Arne Duncan (D)
16    Secretary of Veterans Affairs                   Eric Shinseki
17    Secretary of Homeland Security                  Janet Napolitano (D)

[Osmosis Jones]

So that's 14 people who have to die to replicate the events of Battlestar Galactica... hmmm...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Okay, what if they were all in a plane that crashed?

I'm pretty sure they're never all in the same place at once. They all have very long-ranging, busy jobs all over America and in some cases the world.

Also, it could be like, the future. Where people live forever. And there are no births. Presidencies in office would acculmalate.

If we become an immortal, transhuman society the Constitution will have to be amended.

[misko27]

Fine then. I will start unleashing wijipedia's and COGs objections then.
 

In 2003 the Continuity of Government Commission suggested that the current law has "at least seven significant issues ... that warrant attention", including:^[17]

• The reality that all figures in the current line of succession work and reside in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. In the event of a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack, it is possible that everyone on the list would be killed or incapacitated.
• Doubt (such as those expressed above by James Madison) that congressional leaders are eligible to act as President.
• A concern about the wisdom of including the President pro tempore in the line of succession as the "largely honorific post traditionally held by the longest-serving Senator of the majority party". For example, from January 20, 2001, to June 6, 2001, the President pro tempore was then-98-year-old Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.
• A concern that the current line of succession can force the presidency to abruptly switch parties mid-term, as the Speaker and the President pro tempore are not necessarily of the same party as the President.
• A concern that the succession line is ordered by the dates of creation of the various executive departments, without regard to the skills or capacities of the persons serving as their Secretary.
• The fact that, should a Cabinet member begin to act as President, the law allows the House to elect a new Speaker (or the Senate, a new President pro tempore), who could in effect remove the Cabinet member and assume the office themselves at any time.
• The absence of a provision where a President is disabled and the vice presidency is vacant (for example, if an assassination attempt simultaneously wounded the President and killed the Vice President).

What about them nuclear weapons?