3.1 Limitations on Executive Power

Question 1

The president’s executive, legislative, judicial, and military roles are limited and some of these limitations are found in the Constitution of

Answer 1

Article II

Question 2

The president is in charge of implementing the law, but he depends on Congress for ___ to keep his departments and offices in business.

Answer 2

• confirmation of department heads
• approval of administrative budgets
• appropriation of government resources

Question 3

The president’s ability to issue executive orders and exercise executive privilege (both implied powers) is limited, both implied powers must fit with the parameters of the Constitution. If the do not

Answer 3

the Supreme Court may rule the use of either power unconstitutional.

Question 4

The president’s legislative authority is also limited. He ___; he can only ___.

Answer 4

• cannot make law

- try to set the legislative agenda and pressure Congress to act

Question 5

How does the president try to set the legislative agenda and pressure Congress to act?

Answer 5

• through addresses to Congress
• policy recommendations
• public appeals

Question 6

The president’s power to veto legislation has restrictions (limitations).

Answer 6

Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses.
(Congress has used this check on presidential power on important pieces of legislation, like the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the War Powers Resolution of 1973.)

Question 7

The Constitution limits the power of the president in

Answer 7

• judicial politics
• military operations
• diplomatic relations

Question 8

The president can nominate justices to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court and other lower federal courts

Answer 8

but he must receive the advice and consent of the Senate through the process of confirmation.

Question 9

As the commander in chief on the U.S. armed forces

Answer 9

-he technically needs a congressional declaration of war or -specific statutory authorization of use of force to engage troops in military combat.

Question 10

Congress also checks the president’s diplomatic relations

Answer 10

• confirming appointment of ambassadors

- ratifying presidential treaties with other nations

Question 11

Presidential personality and character matter. What was Bill Clinton’s approval rating upon leaving office?

Answer 11

Despite being plagued by scandal and impeachment during his two terms as president, Bill Clinton left office with a ‘66 percent approval rating’.

Question 12

Clinton’s much higher approval rating has been attributed to the

Answer 12

• favorable economic climate of the Clinton years
• wars in Iraq and Afghanistan initiated by the Bush administration
• Clinton’s charismatic reputation
• Bush’s unpopular personality

Question 13

What is Richard Neustadt, theory of the ‘power to persuade’?

Answer 13

The president’s performance is directly related to the power to persuade.