Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Justice

This executive order establishes a new line of succession for acting Attorney General, naming three U.S. Attorneys (Eastern District of Virginia, Eastern District of North Carolina, and Northern District of Texas) to serve if the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Associate Attorney General, and other designated officers are unavailable. It revokes the previous succession order (EO 13775) signed seven weeks earlier.

Federal Register Open PDF 82 FR 16723

Impact dates

Feb 9, 2017
Revoke Executive Order 13775 of February 9, 2017

Key directives

Establish order of succession: U.S. Attorney EDVA, then EDNC, then NDTX
Exclude acting officials from serving as Attorney General under this order
Require eligibility under Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998
Preserve presidential discretion to depart from this order
Revoke Executive Order 13775 of February 9, 2017

Who is ordered

Timeline

Immediate

EO 13775 revoked
new succession order takes effect

Near term (90d)

—

Long term

standing succession protocol for DOJ leadership vacancies

Risks & tensions

Unusual to replace succession order after only 7 weeks; suggests internal deliberation or changed circumstances
Selection of specific U.S. Attorneys rather than Senate-confirmed DOJ officials may raise questions about bypassing normal hierarchy
Presidential discretion clause (Sec. 2(c)) preserves flexibility but creates uncertainty about when order actually binds
Vulnerability if named U.S. Attorneys are not Senate-confirmed or face other eligibility issues under Vacancies Reform Act