[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 19 (Monday, May 13, 2002)]
[Pages 776-777]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Designation of Officers of the Department of Justice

March 19, 2002

Memorandum for the Attorney General

Subject: Designation of Officers of the Department of Justice

    By the authority vested in me as President under the Constitution 
and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal 
Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., I hereby order 
that:
    Section 1. Order of Succession.

[[Page 777]]

    During any period when the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney 
General, the Associate Attorney General, and the officers designated by 
the Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 508 to act as Attorney 
General, have died, resigned, or otherwise become unable to perform the 
functions and duties of the office of Attorney General, the following 
officers of the Department of Justice, in the order listed, shall 
perform the functions and duties of the office of Attorney General, if 
they are eligible to act as Attorney General under the Federal Vacancies 
Reform Act of 1998, until such time as at least one of the officers 
mentioned above is able to perform the functions and duties of the 
office of Attorney General:
    United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York;
    United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia;
    United States Attorney for the District of Utah; and
    United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.
    Sec. 2. Exceptions.
    (a) No individual who is serving in an office listed in section 1 in 
an acting capacity, by virtue of so serving, shall act as Attorney 
General pursuant to this memorandum.
    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this memorandum, the President 
retains discretion, to the extent permitted by the Federal Vacancies 
Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., to depart from this 
memorandum in designating an acting Attorney General.
                                                George W. Bush

Note: This memorandum was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on May 9. An original was not available for verification of the content 
of this memorandum.