United States order of precedence

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United States

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.

[edit] Details as of 2006

1. President of the United States (George W. Bush) and First Lady (Laura Bush) (if present)
2. Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate (Dick Cheney) and Second Lady (Lynne Cheney) (if present)
3. Governor (while in his or her state)
4. Mayor (while in his or her city)
5. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (Dennis Hastert)
6. Chief Justice of the United States (John Roberts)
7. Former Presidents of the United States (in order of term):
   1. Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
   2. Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
   3. George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
   4. Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
8. U.S. ambassadors (while at their posts)
9. United States Secretary of State (Condoleezza Rice)
10. Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign states
11. Widows of former Presidents of the United States
    1. Lady Bird Johnson
    2. Nancy Reagan
12. Ministers of foreign powers
13. Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (in order of appointment):
    1. John Paul Stevens
    2. Antonin Scalia
    3. Anthony Kennedy
    4. David Souter
    5. Clarence Thomas
    6. Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    7. Stephen Breyer
    8. Samuel Alito
14. Retired Chief Justices (none now living)
15. Retired Associate Justices of the Supreme Court
    1. Sandra Day O'Connor
16. 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):
    1. Secretary of the Treasury (Henry Paulson)
    2. Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld)
    3. Attorney General (Alberto Gonzales)
    4. Secretary of the Interior (Dirk Kempthorne)
    5. Secretary of Agriculture (Mike Johanns)
    6. Secretary of Commerce (Carlos Gutierrez)
    7. Secretary of Labor (Elaine Chao)
    8. Secretary of Health and Human Services (Michael O. Leavitt)
    9. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Alphonso Jackson)
    10. Secretary of Transportation (Mary Peters)
    11. Secretary of Energy (Samuel W. Bodman)
    12. Secretary of Education (Margaret Spellings)
    13. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Jim Nicholson)
    14. Secretary of Homeland Security (Michael Chertoff)
17. White House Chief of Staff (Joshua Brewster Bolten)
18. Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Robert Jones Portman)
19. Director of National Drug Control Policy (John P. Walters)
20. United States Trade Representative (Susan Schwab)
21. Director of National Intelligence (John Negroponte)
22. U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (John R. Bolton)
23. President Pro Tempore of the Senate (Ted Stevens)
24. United States Senators (by length of term served)
25. Governors of the States when outside home states (by order of admission of State to Union)
26. Acting heads of executive departments
27. Former Vice Presidents of the United States (in order of term):
    1. Walter Mondale (1977–1981)
    2. Dan Quayle (1989–1993)
    3. Al Gore (1993–2001)
28. Members of the United States House of Representatives (by length of term served)
29. Non-voting delegates to the House of Representatives
30. Governor of Puerto Rico (Aníbal Acevedo Vilá)
31. National Security Advisor to the President (Stephen Hadley)
32. Counselors and Assistants to the President
33. Chargés d'affaires of Foreign Countries
34. Deputy Secretaries of Executive Departments
35. Solicitor General (Paul Clement)
36. Administrator of the Agency for International Development (Randall L. Tobias)
37. Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Robert Joseph)
38. Under Secretaries of State and Counsels
39. Under Secretaries of Executive Departments
40. U.S. Ambassadors at Large
41. Secretaries of the United States Armed Forces:
    1. Secretary of the Army (Francis J. Harvey)
    2. Secretary of the Navy (Donald C. Winter)
    3. Secretary of the Air Force (Michael Wynne)
42. Postmaster General (John E. Potter)
43. Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Ben Bernanke)
44. Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (James L. Connaughton)
45. Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (James H. Lambright)
46. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Peter Pace)
47. Under Secretaries of Defense
48. Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Edmund P. Giambastiani)
49. Chiefs of Staff of the Four Services (in order of appointment):
    1. Chief of Staff of the Army (Peter Schoomaker)
    2. Chief of Naval Operations (Michael Mullen)
    3. Chief of Staff of the Air Force (T. Michael Moseley)
    4. Commandant of the Marine Corps (James T. Conway)
50. Commandant of the Coast Guard (Thad W. Allen)
51. Commanders-in-Chief of Unified and Specified Commands of Four-Star Grade
52. Generals of the Army, Generals of the Air Force, and Fleet Admirals (None living)
53. Lieutenant Governors of the States (by order of admission of State to Union)

[edit] External links

• Order of Precedence from the Office of the Mayor of City of New York
• US order of precedence, all the way down to junior military officers