Khan Acting Pres

Speaker Khan, the Acting President

by Gloria Merle Huffman

Thu., 8/11/2016 6:47 pm EDT

A fictitious scenario landing unelected, Pakistan-born Khizr Khan (1950- ) in the role of Speaker of the House of Representatives, and then in the Oval Office as Acting President of the United States under the Twentieth Amendment:

"If, by reason of death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to qualify, there is neither a President nor Vice President to discharge the powers and duties of the office of President, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, upon his resignation as Speaker and as Representative in Congress, act as President."

You must be a native-born citizen to be President, but not to be the Speaker of the House, who must become the Acting President if both the President and Vice President are indisposed.

"The Constitution placed notably few hurdles between ordinary citizens and becoming a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives [be 25+, a citizen 7+ years, and live in the state they represent]. ... And Article VI, clause 3 requires that all Members take an oath to support the Constitution before they exercise the duties of their office." - from History, Art & Archives, United States House of Representatives. (a "gov" website)

When Khan brandished his pocket Constitution at the Democratic National Convention, he was flashing a prelude to swearing to support it, as required for the Speaker of the House. He says he always carries it in his breast pocket -- close to his heart.

And, oddly enough, the House of Representatives chooses its Speaker, but the Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a Member of Congress! Together with the 20th Amendment, this appears to be a glaring loophole for getting an unelected, foreign-born person into the White House as Acting President.

"In the United States, the Speaker of the House is a leadership position and the office-holder actively works to set the majority party's legislative agenda." (from Wikipedia, "Speaker of the House of U.S. Representatives")

The Speaker works to set the legislative agenda. There is where it is useful to be a lawyer -- like Mr. Khan.

So let's say Khan, who is still basking in the glow of how affectionately he has been received for his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, becomes widely known as a "powerful" speaker (an adjective frequently used for a Speaker of the House). Then the House of Representatives, which has an overwhelming Democratic majority, votes him in as Speaker of the House by acclamation -- a process that was used to make both Obama and Hillary Clinton the presidential nominees of the Democratic party.

Immediately, Pakistan-born Sharia lawyer Khizr Khan, as Speaker of the House, becomes second in line for the U.S. Presidency, even though he is ineligible to actually be the President. As Acting President under the 20th Amendment, after the President and Vice President (whether Clinton/Kaine or Trump/Pence) are unavailable for their jobs, he fulfills all of the roles and obligations of President, including the writing of Executive Orders.

The End.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives [1]

Pakistani Precedent for a Khan

Who Became President by Succession

by Gloria Merle Huffman

Thu., 8/11/2016 6:47 pm EDT

Ghulam Ishaq Khan (1915-2006), 7th President of Pakistan, was Finance Minister under President Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. Zia made Pakistan into "a global center for political Islam." (Wikipedia, "Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization") Khan was elected Chairman of the Senate there in 1985 and was second in line to the presidency. After President Zia was killed 28 years ago on August 17, 1988, in a "controversial and mysterious aviation accident," Ghulam Ishaq Khan became the acting President until he was officially elected president on December 13, 1988. An autocrat, he has been called the most powerful civilian president in Pakistani history, serving from 1988 to 1993. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Ishaq_Khan

© 2016 Gloria Merle Huffman

#

Will Republicans Advance Speaker Paul Ryan

to become Presidential Nominee Instead of Trump?

by Gloria Merle Huffman

Sat., 8/13/2016 8:25 pm EDT

The image just now came into my mind that the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives -- the position I have postulated as a springboard for Khizr Khan to ascend to the position of Acting President -- will become vacant if the Republican Party advances the current Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, to a position as their party's presidential candidate in lieu of Donald Trump. That "vacuum" (the empty seat of Speaker of the House) would need to be filled by someone else, and in this fictitious scenario it could easily be filled by Khizr Khan, rendering it unnecessary to find a reason for the House to put him there. The reason for propelling Paul Ryan out of that seat has already been fabricated by the Republican Party's attacks on its own presidential nominee. The problem with my scene is that the Republicans control the House -- 247 Republicans to 136 Democrats -- with 2 vacancies, and Khizr Khan is a Democrat. https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown

© 2016 Gloria Merle Huffman

#

A Republican Muslim as

Speaker of the House,

Second in Line for the Presidency?

by Gloria Merle Huffman

Sat., 8/13/2016 8:56 pm EDT

Could the Republicans find a Republican Muslim that they could push for the filling of a theoretical vacancy of the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives? Yes. Although Muslims overwhelmingly vote Democratic, there is a small minority of Republicans among them, and there are even some who support Donald Trump (7.5%, according to an early 2016 survey by CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations). I could see an effort by some Republicans to push for a Muslim for this seat as an "apology" to Muslims for Trump's proposed partial and temporary ban on Muslim immigration. In this case, the role of Khizr Kahn would have been to prepare public thought for the possibility of a Muslim Speaker of the House (that person ascending to the position of Acting President instead of Khizr Khan himself).

© 2016 Gloria Merle Huffman

#

Orrin Hatch, A Mormon, Is

Third in Line for the Presidency

by Gloria Merle Huffman

Sun., 8/14/2016 5:39 pm EDT

In the presidential line of succession in the United States, the third in line (after the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives) is the President pro tempore of the Senate. The Vice President[1] is also the president of the Senate (and in that capacity only votes when it is necessary to break a tie). The job of presiding over the Senate is now carried out not by the Vice President, but by someone else chosen by the Senate, a "temporary" President of the Senate ("President pro tempore of the Senate"). This is normally the longest-serving senator in the majority party (which is currently the Republican party with 54 seats to 44 Democrats and 2 Independents). This President pro tempore of the Senate usually passes off his job to various junior senators from the majority party to give them experience in parliamentary procedure.

But it is the President pro tempore of the Senate himself who is third in line for the Presidency. He would be passed over as President if he did not happen to fulfill the eligibility requirements to be President (e.g., if he were not a native-born citizen).

The current "President pro tempore of the United States Senate"[2] is 82-year-old Senator Orrin Hatch (Republican from Utah), born in 1934. Like Gov. Mitt Romney, he is a Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Being a native-born citizen, there is no eligibility impediment to his ascension to the Presidency. He ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2000 and lost to George Bush.

For a long time, he was interested in serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, his "advanced age now makes him a very unlikely Supreme Court nominee."[3]

The relationship between Mormons and Muslims is an interesting one, as Mormon leaders have historically proclaimed that the Mormon Church will bring Christianity to Islam. (See my article on this site, "China and Iran vs. USA," in the left sidebar links, seventh paragraph from the top.)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_pro_tempore_of_the_United_States_Senate

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrin_Hatch

© 2016 Gloria Merle Huffman

#