14 USC 2101 – Original appointment of permanent commissioned officers
(a)(1) The President may appoint permanent commissioned officers in the Regular Coast Guard in grades appropriate to their qualification, experience, and length of service, as the needs of the Coast Guard may require, from among the following categories:
(A) Graduates of the Coast Guard Academy.
(B) Commissioned warrant officers, warrant officers, and enlisted members of the Regular Coast Guard.
(C) Members of the Coast Guard Reserve who have served at least 2 years as such.
(D) Licensed officers of the United States merchant marine who have served 2 or more years aboard a vessel of the United States in the capacity of a licensed officer.
Terms Used In 14 USC 2101
- Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
- individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
- officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
- vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See 1 USC 3
(2) Original appointments under this section in the grades of lieutenant commander and above shall be made by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(3) Original appointments under this section in the grades of ensign through lieutenant shall be made by the President alone.
(b) No individual shall be appointed a commissioned officer under this section until his mental, moral, physical, and professional fitness to perform the duties of a commissioned officer has been established under such regulations as the Secretary shall prescribe.
(c) Appointees under this section shall take precedence in the grade to which appointed in accordance with the dates of their commissions as commissioned officers in such grade. Appointees whose dates of commission are the same shall take precedence with each other as the Secretary shall determine.
(d) For the purposes of this section, the term “original”, with respect to the appointment of a member of the Coast Guard, refers to that member’s most recent appointment in the Coast Guard that is neither a promotion nor a demotion.