Office Current officer   1 Vice President of the United States Joe Biden (D) RC 2 Speaker of the House John Boehner (R) RC 3 President pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy (D) RC 4 Secretary of State John Kerry (D) RC 5 Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew (D) OJ 6 Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (R) EP 7 Attorney General Eric Holder (D) EP 8 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (D) RC 9 Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (D) RC
RC=Roman Catholicism:	Orders from Rome could take precedence	(as claimed by 2012 GOP candidate Rick Santorum and others [cf])
OJ=Orthodox Judaism	Orders from Israel could take precedence	(as indicated by GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor [cf])
EP=Episcopalian	-	-