Powers of the President Flashcards
Which section of the Constitution grants executive power to the president?
Article II grants the president Executive Power, and the Supreme Court has interpreted that power broadly.
The Supreme Court has also emphasized that the president has the power to enforce laws, but not to make them. This enforcement power includes prosecutorial discretion.
Generally speaking, the president’s power is broader in areas of foreign affairs than in domestic areas.
What are the President’s 4 domestic powers?
- Pardon
- Veto
- Appointment and Removal of Officials
- Authority as Chief Executive
PVAA
What is the President’s Pardon Power for Federal Offenses?
Art II Sec 2 authorizes the president to “grant reprieves and pardons for any offenses against the U.S., except in the case of impeachment.”
This power extends only to federal crimes, not state crimes.
What is the president’s veto power?
Art I Sec 7 gives the president the power to veto any bill passed by congress.
The president has 10 days to veto after being presented with the bill.
After 10 days:
If signed: law
If vetoed: sent back to house of origins with objections
If no action: If Congress is still in session at end of 10-day session, bill becomes law. But if Congress is out of session then it is known as a pocket veto, it does not become law. Pocket vetos CANNOT be overridden.
Does the president have a line item veto?
No, the president cannot refuse part of the bill as the Supreme Court has found it violates the presentment clause.
What is the President’s Appointment Powers?
Art. II, Sec 2, the president can appoint all “officers of the United States” (including ambassadors and SC Justices) with the advice and consent of the Senate.
However, Congress may delegate the appointment of “inferior” officials to the president, the heads of Executive departments or the courts.
The president alone (not Congress) may appoint members of a body with administrative or enforcement power. Those positions are officers of the US and must be appointed by the president (such as the Federal Election Commission)
What is an inferior officer for purposes of the president’s appointment power?
Inferior officers are those supervised by Senate-confirmed appointees
What is the president’s power of removal?
The constitution is silent on the President’s removal powers, but it is generally accepted that the President may remove an executive appointee without cause or Senate approval.
Congress may not protect appointees from removal by imposing a multi-tiered system in which persons at each level may be removed only with good cause.
Judges, however, are protected by Art. III, which states that they may hold their offices during good behavior. Therefore, federal judges may only be removed by impeachment.
What is the president’s authority to issue executive orders (aka his authority as a chief executive)
The scope of the president’s power to issue executive orders and to govern domestic affairs is extensive but not clearly delineated. Generally, the President’s authority varies with the degree of congressional authorization of the action. Thus, when the president acts:
- With the express or implied authorization of Congress, the presidential authority is at its highest, and the action is strongly presumed to be valid.
- When Congress has not spoken, presidential authority is diminished, presidential authority is diminished, and the action is invalid if it interferes with the operation of power of another branch of government.
3 When Congress has spoken to the contrary, presidential authority is at its lowest ebb. So, in Hamden V Rumsfeld a military commission had no jurisdiction too proceed because the executive order authorizing the commission exceeded congressional limitations placed on the president to convene commissions.
What are the president’s three powers over foreign affairs?
- Commander in Chief
- Treaties
- Executive Agreements
What is the president’s power over foreign affairs as the commander in chief of the armed services
The president is the commander in chief of the military, but only Congress can formally declare war.
However, the president CAN take military action without a declaration of war in the case of actual hostilities against the United States.
Congress can in turn limit the President’s military activities through its military appropriation power.
When can the president deploy troops overseas without Congressional authority?
This is still an open question. Presidents routinely do so, and Congress routinely asserts its authority to approve the deployment. The courts generally leave the issue to the political branches.
What is the president’s treaty power?
The president represents and act for the U.S. in the day-to-day international affairs. In the addition to appointing and receiving ambassadors the president has the sole power to negotiate treaties, though a treaty may only be ratified with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate.
How do treaties fit into the supremacy clause?
A ratified treaty is the ‘supreme law of the land,’ so long as it does not conflict with the Constitution. It outranks conflicting state law. A self-executing treaty has the same authority as an act of Congress, and the newest one rules in cases of conflicts.
a non-self-executing treaty does not have the same force of law as an act of congress until such effectuation has legislation is passed. In these cases, a treaty serves as an independent source of power to legislate that is separate from its enumerated powers.
the Constitution is superior to a treaty, so in Youngstown the absence of implementing legislation meant that the president did not have the authority to make a non-self-executing treaty binding on the states.
How to executive agreements work?
The president has the power to enter into executive agreements with foreign nations (such as reciprocal trade agreements) that do not require the approval of two-thirds of the senate. Executive agreements are not expressly provided for in the Constitution, but they may be made pursuant to prior (or subsequent) congressional authorization or pursuant to the President’s authority over foreign affairs.
Conflicting federal statutes and treaties take precedence over executive agreements, but executive agreements take precedence over conflicting state laws.
