United States order of precedence

The United States order of precedence lists the ceremonial order for domestic and foreign government officials, military and civic leaders at diplomatic, ceremonial, and social events within the United States and abroad.^[1] Former Presidents, Vice Presidents, First Ladies, Secretaries of State and Supreme Court Justices are also included in the list. The order is established by the President, through the Office of the Chief of Staff,^[1] and is maintained by the State Department's Office of the Chief of Protocol.^[2] It is only used to indicate ceremonial protocol and has no legal standing; it does not reflect the presidential line of succession or the equal status of the branches of government under the Constitution.

Details as of November 1, 2011

(Except as otherwise noted, positions in the list are from three sources.^[3][4][5])

1. President of the United States (Barack Obama)
2. Foreign heads of state/Reigning monarchs^[3][4]
3. Vice President of the United States (Joe Biden)
4. Governor (of the state in which the event is held)
5. Mayor (of the city in which the event is held)^[5]
6. Speaker of the House of Representatives (John Boehner)
7. Chief Justice of the United States (John Roberts)
8. Former Presidents of the United States (in order of term)
   1. Jimmy Carter (January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981)
   2. George H. W. Bush (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993)
   3. Bill Clinton (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001)
   4. George W. Bush (January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009)
9. Ambassadors of the United States (at the Ambassador's post)
10. United States Secretary of State (Hillary Rodham Clinton)^[6]
11. Secretary-General of the United Nations (Ban Ki-moon)
12. Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Foreign Powers accredited to the United States (in order of the presentation of their credentials)
13. Widows of former Presidents (in order of spouse's term)
    1. Nancy Reagan (January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989)
14. Ministers of Foreign Powers accredited to the United States
15. Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (in order of appointment)
    1. Antonin Scalia (September 26, 1986)
    2. Anthony Kennedy (February 18, 1988)
    3. Clarence Thomas (October 18, 1991)
    4. Ruth Bader Ginsburg (August 10, 1993)
    5. Stephen Breyer (August 3, 1994)
    6. Samuel Alito (January 31, 2006)
    7. Sonia Sotomayor (August 8, 2009)
    8. Elena Kagan (August 7, 2010)
16. Retired Chief Justices of the Supreme Court (currently none)
17. Retired Associate Justices of the Supreme Court (in order of appointment)
    1. John Paul Stevens (December 19, 1975)
    2. Sandra Day O'Connor (September 25, 1981)
    3. David Souter (October 9, 1990)
18. Members of the Cabinet (in the order of the creation of the respective departments; note that the Secretary of State already appears above; the creation date for the Secretary of War is used as the date for the Secretary of Defense's spot in the precedence.)
    1. Secretary of the Treasury (Timothy Geithner)
    2. Secretary of Defense (Leon Panetta)
    3. Attorney General (Eric Holder)
    4. Secretary of the Interior (Ken Salazar)
    5. Secretary of Agriculture (Tom Vilsack)
    6. Secretary of Commerce (John Bryson)
    7. Secretary of Labor (Hilda Solis)
    8. Secretary of Health and Human Services (Kathleen Sebelius)
    9. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Shaun Donovan)
    10. Secretary of Transportation (Ray LaHood)
    11. Secretary of Energy (Steven Chu)
    12. Secretary of Education (Arne Duncan)
    13. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Eric Shinseki)
    14. Secretary of Homeland Security (Janet Napolitano)
19. White House Chief of Staff (William Daley)
20. Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Jacob Lew)
21. Director of National Drug Control Policy (Gil Kerlikowske)
22. Trade Representative (Ron Kirk)
23. Director of National Intelligence (James Clapper)
24. Ambassador to the United Nations (Susan Rice)
25. President pro tempore of the Senate (Daniel Inouye)
26. Current Senators (by seniority; see Seniority in the United States Senate; note that the President pro tempore of the Senate appears above.)
27. State governors (of states other than that in which the event is held, by date of statehood or ratification of the Constitution)
    1. Governor of Delaware (Jack Markell)
    2. Governor of Pennsylvania (Tom Corbett)
    3. Governor of New Jersey (Chris Christie)
    4. Governor of Georgia (Nathan Deal)
    5. Governor of Connecticut (Dan Malloy)
    6. Governor of Massachusetts (Deval Patrick)
    7. Governor of Maryland (Martin O'Malley)
    8. Governor of South Carolina (Nikki Haley)
    9. Governor of New Hampshire (John Lynch)
    10. Governor of Virginia (Bob McDonnell)
    11. Governor of New York (Andrew Cuomo)
    12. Governor of North Carolina (Beverly Perdue)
    13. Governor of Rhode Island (Lincoln Chafee)
    14. Governor of Vermont (Peter Shumlin)
    15. Governor of Kentucky (Steve Beshear)
    16. Governor of Tennessee (Bill Haslam)
    17. Governor of Ohio (John Kasich)
    18. Governor of Louisiana (Bobby Jindal)
    19. Governor of Indiana (Mitch Daniels)
    20. Governor of Mississippi (Haley Barbour)
    21. Governor of Illinois (Pat Quinn)
    22. Governor of Alabama (Robert Bentley)
    23. Governor of Maine (Paul LePage)
    24. Governor of Missouri (Jay Nixon)
    25. Governor of Arkansas (Mike Beebe)
    26. Governor of Michigan (Rick Snyder)
    27. Governor of Florida (Rick Scott)
    28. Governor of Texas (Rick Perry)
    29. Governor of Iowa (Terry Branstad)
    30. Governor of Wisconsin (Scott Walker)
    31. Governor of California (Jerry Brown)
    32. Governor of Minnesota (Mark Dayton)
    33. Governor of Oregon (John Kitzhaber)
    34. Governor of Kansas (Sam Brownback)
    35. Governor of West Virginia (Earl Ray Tomblin)
    36. Governor of Nevada (Brian Sandoval)
    37. Governor of Nebraska (Dave Heineman)
    38. Governor of Colorado (John Hickenlooper)
    39. Governor of North Dakota (Jack Dalrymple)
    40. Governor of South Dakota (Dennis Daugaard)
    41. Governor of Montana (Brian Schweitzer)
    42. Governor of Washington (Christine Gregoire)
    43. Governor of Idaho (Butch Otter)
    44. Governor of Wyoming (Matt Mead)
    45. Governor of Utah (Gary Herbert)
    46. Governor of Oklahoma (Mary Fallin)
    47. Governor of New Mexico (Susana Martinez)
    48. Governor of Arizona (Jan Brewer)
    49. Governor of Alaska (Sean Parnell)
    50. Governor of Hawaii (Neil Abercrombie)
28. Acting heads of executive departments
29. Former Vice Presidents (in order of term) (note that George H. W. Bush, who would otherwise appear in this list, already appears above as a former President)
    1. Walter Mondale (January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981)
    2. Dan Quayle (January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993)
    3. Al Gore (January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001)
    4. Dick Cheney (January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009)
30. Current Representatives (by seniority; see List of current members of the United States House of Representatives by seniority; note that the Speaker of the House (currently Representative John Boehner) appears above.)
31. Current Delegates (by seniority)
    1. Eni Faleomavaega (January 3, 1989)
    2. Eleanor Holmes Norton (January 3, 1991)
    3. Donna Christian-Christensen (January 3, 1997)
    4. Madeleine Bordallo (January 3, 2003)
    5. Pedro Pierluisi (January 3, 2009)
    6. Gregorio Sablan (January 3, 2009)
32. Governor of Puerto Rico (Luis Fortuño)
33. National Security Advisor (Thomas Donilon)
34. Counselor to the President and Assistants to the President
35. Chargés d'affaires of foreign countries
36. Former Secretaries of State (in order of term)
    1. Henry Kissinger (September 22, 1973 – January 20, 1977)
    2. George Shultz (July 16, 1982 – January 20, 1989)
    3. James Baker (January 20, 1989 – August 23, 1992)
    4. Madeleine Albright (January 23, 1997 – January 20, 2001)
    5. Colin Powell (January 20, 2001 – January 26, 2005)
    6. Condoleezza Rice (January 26, 2005 – January 20, 2009)
37. Deputy Secretaries of Executive Departments (in the order of the creation of the respective departments as for Secretaries above)
    1. Deputy Secretary of State (James Steinberg)
    2. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Neal Wolin)
    3. Deputy Secretary of Defense (William Lynn)
    4. Deputy Attorney General (James Cole)
    5. Deputy Secretary of the Interior (David Hayes)
    6. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture (Kathleen Merrigan)
    7. Deputy Secretary of Commerce (Vacant)
    8. Deputy Secretary of Labor (Seth Harris)
    9. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (Bill Corr)
    10. Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Ron Sims)
    11. Deputy Secretary of Transportation (John Porcari)
    12. Deputy Secretary of Energy (Daniel Poneman)
    13. Deputy Secretary of Education (Anthony Miller)
    14. Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Scott Gould)
    15. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (Jane Holl Lute)
38. Solicitor General (Donald Verrilli Jr.)
39. Administrator of the Agency for International Development (Rajiv Shah)
40. Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Ellen Tauscher)
41. Under Secretaries of State and Counsels
42. Under Secretaries of Executive Departments
43. United States Ambassadors-at-Large
44. Secretaries of the service departments (by creation order of branch)
    1. Secretary of the Army (John McHugh)
    2. Secretary of the Navy (Ray Mabus)
    3. Secretary of the Air Force (Michael Donley)
45. Postmaster General (Patrick R. Donahoe)
46. Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Ben Bernanke)
47. Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (Nancy Sutley)
48. Chairman of the Export-Import Bank (Fred Hochberg)
49. Chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (Andrew Saul)
50. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (GEN Martin Dempsey)
51. Under Secretaries of Defense
52. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (ADM James Winnefeld)
53. Joint Chiefs of Staff (in order of appointment)
    1. Chief of Staff of the Air Force (Gen Norton Schwartz)
    2. Commandant of the Marine Corps (Gen James Amos)
    3. Chief of Staff of the Army (GEN Raymond Odierno)
    4. Chief of Naval Operations (ADM Jonathan Greenert)
54. Commandant of the Coast Guard (ADM Robert Papp)
55. Commanders of the Unified Combatant Commands of four-star grade
    1. Africa Command (GEN Carter Ham)
    2. Central Command (Gen James Mattis)
    3. European Command (ADM James Stavridis)
    4. Northern Command (GEN Charles Jacoby)
    5. Pacific Command (ADM Robert Willard)
    6. Southern Command (Gen Donald Fraser)
    7. Special Operations Command (ADM William McRaven)
    8. Strategic Command (Gen Robert Kehler)
    9. Transportation Command (Gen William M. Fraser III)
56. Generals of the Army (currently none), Generals of the Air Force (currently none), and Fleet Admirals (currently none)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "U.S. State Department Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 2 Section 320 "PRECEDENCE"". http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/84407.pdf. Retrieved 2009-07-10. "Precedence Lists establish the order or ranking of a country’s government, military, and, in some cases, civic leaders for diplomatic, ceremonial, and social events, at home and abroad. The President, through the Office of the Chief of Staff, establishes the United States Order of Precedence." 
2. ^ "What Does the Office of the Chief of Protocol Do?". U.S. State Department. http://www.state.gov/s/cpr/51328.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-25. "21. Maintain and update the United States Order of Precedence List." 
3. ^ ^{a b} "U.S. order of precedence". http://www.bigmomentfilms.com/usorderofprecedence.asp. Retrieved 2009-07-15. "Use this official list to determine protocol order when developing seating charts, speaking programs, announcements and any list or documentation related to special events that involve US government officials." ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ ^{a b} "Protocol: Order of Precedence". http://www.proadvance.com/resourceguide/logistical/protocol/orderofprecedence.html. Retrieved 2009-07-15. "Use this list when developing seating charts, speaking programs, and announcements." 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Order of Precedence". http://www.nyc.gov/html/unccp/html/protocol/precedence.shtml. Retrieved 2009-07-15. "The following list is an abridged, unofficial version but conforms to established, customary rules of precedence." 
6. ^ http://www.formsofaddress.info/precedence.html#053

External links

• Office of the Chief of Protocol from the U.S. State Department website
• Diplomatic List: Order of Precedence and Date of Presentation of Credentials (for foreign diplomats) from the U.S. State Department website