[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 50 (Monday, December 18, 2006)]
[Page 2148]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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

December 8, 2006

Memorandum for the Attorney General

Subject: Designation of Officers of the Department of Justice

    By the authority vested in me as President by 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. 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; 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.
    Sec. 3. The Memorandum for the Attorney General of March 19, 2002, 
entitled ``Designation of Officers of the Department of Justice,'' is 
hereby revoked.
    Sec. 4. The Attorney General is authorized and directed to publish 
this memorandum in the Federal Register.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:31 a.m., December 
11, 2006]

Note: This memorandum was published in the Federal Register on December 
12. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.