Thread by @rjmarr

I am seeing a lot of stuff about succession for #VAGovernor mess. Most of it is misleading. What's the order of succession if one or more resign? Well, it depends on timing, plus interpretation of #VAConstitution & other laws 1/12

If Northam resigns, the VA Constitution is fairly clear: he would be replaced by Lt Gov (currently Fairfax) for full term. 2/12

What if Lt. Gov office is vacant when Gov resigns (say, if Lt Gov resigns too)? I've seen reports that Senate President Pro Tempore takes his place. This is currently Republican Senator Stephen Newman 3/12 senatornewman.com

Well, wait a minute - relevant law does NOT say this Senator REPLACES Lt gov - he/she just "discharges their duties" (most likely referring to the main Lt Gov job of presiding over the Senate), so the Lt Gov office would still be vacant! 4/12

Instead, the #VAConstitution states that if there's a vacancy in the Lt Gov when a Governor resigns, the AG becomes Governor. Simple, right? 5/12

Hold on a moment, though - the text of the Constitution says the AG will "succeed to the office of Governor for the unexpired term or serve as Acting Governor". What does that "or" mean - who would decide Acting or full term? No idea. 6/12

Plus there wouldn't likely be a vacancy in the Lt Gov office for long. Statute says that the Governor can appoint a replacement. Tho some fuzzy language, the appointee likely would hold office until next general election, when Lt Gov would be elected (prob for rest of term) 7/12

So if Northam resigns, he would be replaced by either Fairfax (currently), the replacement Lt Gov appointed by Northam (if Fairfax resigns), or the newly elected Lt Gov (if Fairfax resigns and Northam resigns next year) 8/12

But this procedure doesn't apply to the AG office, which is under a DIFFERENT law - a vacancy in the AG would be filed by an election of the #VAGeneralAssembly (currently both houses held by GOP). 9/12

But even that is ONLY if the #VAGeneralAssembly is in session; if the AG resigns or is promoted AFTER the session, the Governor gets to appoint a temporary AG until the NEXT session (no idea if a special session called mid-year could do this - law is unclear) 10/12

Only if all 3 top officials resigned at the same time would House Speaker Kirk Cox take the Governor's chair, and his succession has the same constitutional language about being Governor OR Acting Governor, with no indication of how to decide between the two 11/12

Bottom line: this is way more complicated than articles or tweets or "lines of succession" flowcharts make it seem. The Constitution and law are super-unclear. Timing of resignations is huge deal, and courts would likely play a role. (Also, forget about Senator Newman.) 12/12

Finally, let me note that this is a problem of state constitutions in general, as @ProfGulley points out in the excellent thread below:

UPDATE: And just in case i wasn’t clear how fuzzy the law is, see 1982 AG opinion dug up by @gmoomaw & my subsequent argument w/ @SpotsyHoya , who has very different take than I on LG appointment

UPDATED UPDATE: VA's Constitution guru, Dick Howard, has weighed in, says courts may see elevating an appointed LG to Governor as violating spirit of Constitution. So Northam/Fairfax resignations would still lead to Governor Herring washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…