Who chooses the order of the cabinet Members that sit next to the President during Cabinet Meetings?
Heidi Marquez Smith, Special Assistant to the President for Cabinet Liaison: Kerry, thank you for your question about the President’s Cabinet. During President Bush’s Cabinet Meetings, members of the Cabinet are seated around the table in protocol order. Protocol is determined by when the Cabinet Member’s department, agency, or office was established. The President sits at the center of the table, the Vice President, who is next in protocol order, sits directly across from him, the Secretary of State, whose department was established first, sits to the President’s right, and the Secretary of the Treasury, whose department was established next, sits to the Vice President’s right. In addition, each Cabinet Member’s chair has a plaque on the back with his/her title. Cabinet Members who have served in a Cabinet-level position more than once have a plaque for every position in the Cabinet they have held. Secretary Rumsfeld has held the most Cabinet-level positions of any current Cabinet Mem
