Separation of Powers

Question 1

Legislative power comes from _____________ of the Constitution

Answer 1

Article I

Question 2

Executive power comes from _____________ of the Constitution

Answer 2

Article II

Question 3

Judicial power comes from _____________ of the Constitution

Answer 3

Article III

Question 4

T/F: Article III, Section I states in part:

“The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good behavior”

Answer 4

True

Question 5

What are the 3 Zones of Executive Action as described by Justice Jackson’s concurrence in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer?

Context: The president issued an executive order directing the secretary of commerce to take possession of most steel mills and keep them running during the Korean War (No statute gave him this power, and no power could be implied from existing acts)

Answer 5

(1) When the President Acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum (most likely constitutional)

(2) When the President Acts in absence of either a congressional grant of denial of authority (when Congress is silent) - Unknown/Undecided area of law

(3) When the President Acts contrary to the express or implied will of Congress (likely unconstitutional)

Question 6

T/F: The president can pass executive orders where it is implicitly allowed by congress or relates to resolving disputes in foreign affairs

Answer 6

True

(Dames & Moore v. Regan)
The President of the United States has authority to settle judicial claims through an executive order if the settlement of claims is necessary for the resolution of a major foreign-policy dispute with another country and if Congress acquiesces in the president’s action

Question 7

T/F: Article I, Section 7, The presentment clause ONLY allows the president to sign a bill or return it

Answer 7

True

(Clinton v. City of New York)
In 1997, after the Line-Item Veto Act went into effect, President Clinton cancelled a provision of the Social Security Act and 2 provisions of the Taxpayer relief act

President essentially amended 2 acts of Congress by repealing a portion of each

No provision in the constitution authorizes the president to enact, amend, or to repeal statutes

Question 8

T/F: There are provisions in the constitution that authorize the president to enact, amend, or to repeal statutes

Answer 8

False

(Clinton v. City of New York)
No provision in the constitution authorizes the president to enact, amend, or to repeal statutes

Question 9

What doctrine says that Congress cannot give lawmaking power to other branches?

Answer 9

The nondelegation doctrine

Question 10

What case says that in matters involving foreign policy, Congress can authorize the President broad discretion without violating the non-delegation doctrine?

Context: Appellees were charged with conspiring to sell Guns to Bolivia in violation of the Joint Resolution of Congress (1934) and provisions of a proclamation issued the same day by the President

Answer 10

United States v. Curtiss-Wright (1936)

Question 11

In J.W Hampton Jr., & Co. v. United States (1928), the court said:

The Nondelegation Doctrine requires Congress’s delegation contain an “________ ________” to guide (and restrain) agency rulemaking authority

Answer 11

Intelligible Principle

Seeks to ensure that Congress has laid down the “boundaries” and limits of Congress’s delegations

Question 12

Nondelegation Doctrine:

In Whitman v. American Trucking Assoc., Inc (2001), the Court said that since Section 109 of the Clean Air Act instructs the EPA to create the standards “requisite to protect public health,” it contains an “___________ __________”

Answer 12

Intelligible Principle

Question 13

T/F: There are only 2 cases in which the Supreme Court found a delegation of rulemaking authority unconstitutional

Answer 13

True

(Both in 1935)

Question 14

A statutory, rather than constitutional, interpretation that instructs courts to read certain statutory delegations of power to agencies more carefully than others is called the __________ __________ doctrine

Answer 14

Major Questions Doctrine

West Virginia v. EPA
“There are extraordinary cases… where there is a reason to hesitate before concluding Congress’ meant to confer authority”

Court decided that instructions in the Clean Air Act to the EPA to find the “best system of emission reduction” cannot include requiring power plants to shift entirely away from coal - because that’s too major

Question 15

T/F: It is a violation of the separation-of-powers doctrine for an administrative agency to be headed by a single director not removable by the president at will

Answer 15

True

Seila Law v. CFPB (2020)
Congress established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and established that it would be led by a single director that serves a longer term than president and cannot be removed by president w/o inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance