The Executive Branch Of Government: The President (Sources Of Presidential Power) Flashcards
What are the two main categories of presidential powers?
Formal powers and informal powers.
What document grants the president formal powers?
The Constitution.
From where do informal presidential powers derive?
The president’s popularity with the public, their standing within their party, and their reputation among the international community.
How do the president’s formal constitutional powers differ from informal powers?
Formal constitutional powers are fixed, while informal powers vary depending on the president’s circumstances.
What impact does a president’s popularity have on their informal powers?
An unpopular president will find it more difficult to persuade Congress and therefore have less informal power than a popular president.
What are enumerated powers?
Powers explicitly granted to the president by Article II of the Constitution or delegated by Congress.
What are implied powers?
Powers implied by the text of the Constitution.
What are inherent powers?
Powers not set out in the Constitution but needed by the president to carry out their constitutional role as head of the executive.
How do inherent powers differ from implied powers?
Inherent powers are not linked to a specific power mentioned in the Constitution; they are inherent to the overall role of the president.
What significant change did Franklin D. Roosevelt bring to the presidency?
He expanded the power of the presidency by interpreting sources of presidential power in new ways and proposed an extensive series of laws during his first 100 days in office.
What is an example of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s use of emergency powers?
In 1942, Roosevelt issued an executive order that suspended the civil liberties of approximately 120,000 Japanese-Americans and forced them into internment camps.
How did Congress respond to Roosevelt’s executive order regarding Japanese-Americans?
In 1988, Congress formally apologized and paid reparations to those interned.
How did George W. Bush’s administration interpret the president’s inherent powers after the 9/11 terror attacks?
They argued that the president’s inherent powers allowed him to ignore civil liberties and anti-torture laws, leading to practices like indefinite detention and extraordinary rendition.
What was the public and legal response to George W. Bush’s interpretation of inherent powers?
Bush was widely criticized for interpreting inherent powers too loosely to increase his own power.
