US Executive

Question 1

What are formal and informal powers?

Answer 1

-formal powers of the president are granted by the constitution + are fixed i.e the power to e head of the executive branch of the federal govt
-informal powers derive from a variety of sources, including the president’s popularity or standing within the party–} not fixed and vary depending on the president

Question 2

What can formal powers be divided into?

Answer 2

-enumerated powers= explicitly granted to the president by Article II of the constitution, or delegated by congress
-implied powers= implied by the text of the constitution
-inherent powers= not set out in the constitution, but are needed by the president to carry out their constitutional role as head of the executive

Question 3

Examples of how past presidents have used these powers

Answer 3

-Article II of the constitution grants the president power to propose legislation to congress i.e Lyndon B Johnson framed and pushed for the passing of the civil rights act 1964
-Roosevelt used implied powers when expanding the president’s power to use emergency powers in a a national emergency–} issued exec order to detain 120,000 Japanese-Americans in camps during WW2
-Bush’s admin argued that the detention of terrorist suspects for an indefinite period after 9/11 was an inherent power

Question 4

Formal powers: executive powers

Answer 4

-president is the chief of the executive, so must ‘faithfully execute laws’ i.e Obama banning permanent drilling on portions of the ocean floor in 2016 using the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953
-has the power of drawing up the annual budget i.e in 2020, Trump’s budget for govt spending was a record 4.8 trillion–} however, congress still has power of the purse i.e congress passed a law to withhold 10% of federal funds from highways in any states that didn’t raise the drinking age to 21 in South Dakota v Dole

Question 5

Formal powers: influence the passage of legislation through congress

Answer 5

-can propose legislation to congress i.e in the annual state of the union address in the January of each year, they present their legislative agenda
-has the power to sign bills into laws or ‘leave it on the desk’ for it to become a law after 10 working days without a signature. If congressional session ends during these 10 days, then the bill is lost(called a pocket veto –} last used in 2000 by Bill Clinton
-can veto a bill put forward by congress i.e Trump used the veto 10 times between 2017-21, 2 of which would have ended the state of national emergency at the Mexico border allowing him to use federal funds to build the border wall

Question 6

Formal powers: Appointment powers

Answer 6

-nominates officials to key exec posts–} more than 4,000 positions that they can appoint in the exec branch + over 700 must be confirmed by senate by simple majority(last formal rejection was in 1989 to George Bush, gives president freedom to appoint whoever they see fit i.e Trump appointing Elon Musk to lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)
-president also nominates federal + SC judges and a simple majority vote confirmation is required from the senate

Question 7

Formal powers: Foreign policy

Answer 7

-president is commander-in-chief of the military + can initiate military action
-despite Article I of the constitution stating that only congress has the power to declare war, it has not done so since 1941 + although War Powers act 1974 requires president to ask congress to approve military action, many presidents have due to their commander-in-chief role
-i.e George W Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan(2001) and Iraq(2003) as part of his “war on terror”
-i.e Obama initiated military action in Libya(2011) and Syria(2015) + used drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia to ‘kill terrorist suspects’
-has the power to use nuclear weapons i.e Truman ordered 2 nuclear bombs to be dropped in Hiroshima + Nagasaki(Japan) killing more than 250,000 people

Question 8

Formal powers: Power to grant pardons

Answer 8

-can pardon anyone who has been convicted of federal crimes, with the exception of cases of impeachment
-i.e Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed in the Watergate scandal
-Clinton was criticised for pardoning his brother for a drug offence + granting 140 pardons on his final day in office(Pardongate)

Question 9

Examples of how formal powers are checked

Answer 9

-federal courts challenged Trump’s 2017 “Muslim travel ban” through judicial review, arguing it violated the 1st amendment’s protection against religious discrimination
-Congress may not confirm judicial nominees i.e Republican controlled senate refused to confirm Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland

Question 10

Informal powers: ‘the power to persuade’

Answer 10

-presidents can use their personal influence, the authority of their office + their political capital to win support from key political figures i.e Reagan was known as ‘the great communicator’ and known for his ability to connect with public through his speeches–} made him highly effective in promoting his policies, such as the ending of the Cold War

Question 11

How is the power to persuade constrained?

Answer 11

-limited by the extent of the president’s control over congress i.e Obama enjoyed a presidential support score of 96.7% in 2009 in a unified govt, Trump won 98.7% of votes in 2017 in a unified
-during divided govt period in 2011, Obama’s score dropped to 57%

Question 12

Informal powers: Deal making

Answer 12

-presidents need the support of Congress to pass their legislation
-during periods of divided govt, bipartisan deal-making is essential to avoid gridlock i.e 2018 First Step act, which reformed criminal justice by educe sentences for certain nonviolent offenders etc
-bipartisan legislation in times of national crisis i.e CARES act 2020 which provided economic relief to individuals + businesses during COVID
-not always successful i.e Trump’s 35 day govt shutdown in 2018-19 due to dispute over funding for the proposed border wall

Question 13

Informal powers: setting political agenda

Answer 13

-president determines what issues are discussed by journalists + the public i.e Trump’s controversial tweets:
- tweeted that the 4 POC Dem congresswomen in 2019 known as ‘the squad’ should ‘help fix the totally broken and crime infested’ countries they came from
- Trump described COVID-19 as ‘the Chinese virus’ and blamed the Chinese govt for the global pandemic
-(extra example: Capitol hill riots happened after Trump claimed the election had been ‘stolen’ from him and encouraged his supporters to ‘fight like hell’)

Question 14

Informal powers: De facto party leader

Answer 14

-the president is the unofficial party leader which enhances their ability to shape the party’s agenda
-i.e president delivers an annual constitutionally mandated speech called the ‘state of the union address’ where they can announce their priorities for the upcoming year–} Biden focused on economic growth + reducing healthcare costs in his 2023 speech
-however, president’s influence can be limited by congress:
-i.e Republican-controlled Senate rejecting Obama’s gun restriction policies in 2013
-i.e Republican-controlled senate did not fully repeal Obama’s ACA 2010 despite it being one of Trump’s main presidential campaign pledges in 2017

Question 15

Informal powers: World leader

Answer 15

-president is often described as ‘leader of the free world’ due to the USA dominating global politics + international organisations i.e the UN, NATO
-Obama convinced nations to sign up to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
-President controls the US veto power in the UN i.e Biden has issued 4 vetoes on UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as of Nov 2024
-interest in this power varies depending on the president i.e Trump withdrew the USA from both the Paris Agreement + the Iran Nuclear deal and terminated the USA’s relationship with the world health organisation(WHO) during COVID

Question 16

What is direct authority?

Answer 16

-the power of the president to take action directly, without consulting congress
-this is achieved by ‘stretching’ the president’s implied powers(implicitly granted to the president in the constitution or by congress) to create a new set of informal powers beyond those set out in the constitution

Question 17

Direct authority: Executive orders

Answer 17

-official order directly to the federal govt, which has the effect of a law but can be easily reversed by the next president–} implied from Article II of the constitution, which gives the president executive powers
-i.e Eisenhower used an EO in 1957 to send federal troops to enforce racial desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas
-i.e George W Bush used an EO to authorise anti-terror measures after 9/11, including surveillance of suspects without a court order
-Obama often issued EOs as an alternative to legislation due to divided govt i.e increasing federal minimum wage, outlawing discrimination against married same-sex couples by health insurance companies

Question 18

Direct authority: Signing statements

Answer 18

-presidents use this when they sign a bill into law but wish to comment on it
-controversial because presidents can effectively use them to achieve a ‘line-item veto’(allowed presidents to veto a portion of the bill before it was declared unconstitutional by the SC in 1996 via the Line item veto act)
-can be used to criticise legislation:
-i.e Trump criticised a 2017 bill imposing sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea, claiming it affected his constitutional powers to conduct foreign policy
-i.e Biden disagreed with the 2024 National Defence Authorisation Act’s restrictions on his ability to direct military spending

Question 19

Direct authority: executive agreements

Answer 19

-agreement made between the US and an international govt
-doesn’t require senate ratification like a normal treaty would which avoids lengthy negotiations with senators
-use of them has increased dramatically since WW2 i.e North American Free Trade Agreement signed by Clinton in 1993 and enhanced trade between US, Canada and Mexico
-agreements can simply be abandoned by the next president i.e Trump withdrew from Obama’s 2015 Paris agreement on climate change and 2015 Iran nuclear deal

Question 20

Direct authority: Bureaucratic power

Answer 20

-Franklin D Roosevelt set up the Executive Office of the President to expand the power of the executive
-collection of offices providing both policy advice + admin support to the president

Question 21

Congress’ constraints on president: delaying or rejecting president’s legislation

Answer 21

-president cannot pass laws without the support of congress
-i.e after Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, Obama released plans for stricter gun controls, including a ban on assault weapons but his legislation was rejected by congress in 2013
-harder to pass legislation in divided govt= Obama found it hard to pass legislation in 2nd term(2010 onwards) as Republicans had majority in the HOR

Question 22

Congress’ constraints on president: Overriding a presidential veto

Answer 22

-difficult to do as supermajority in both chambers is necessary
-i.e congress only overrode one of Trump’s vetoes near the end of his first term, when he attempted to veto the annual defence spending bill–} overridden despite Republicans having a majority in the Senate (Senate majority leader at the time, Mitch McConnell pointed out that the bill was essential to the ‘brave men and women’ in the armed forces)

Question 23

Congress’ constraints on president: Power of the purse

Answer 23

-president requires congress to pass the federal budget and fund the federal govt
-leaders in congress therefore have significant leverage in negotiating with the executive + can refuse to pass the budget i.e 35 day govt shutdown after Trump refused to sign any appropriations bill that didn’t include funding for his border wall despite Democrat controlled senate unanimously passing the bill

Question 24

Congress’ constraints on president: Confirmation of presidential appointments

Answer 24

-more than 1,000 presidential appointments to federal govt have to be confirmed by senate with a simple majority vote
-senate can reject nominee if they do not see them as suitable i.e Republican controlled senate rejected Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland as they considered the appointment too close to the elections(occurred in March 2016)–} would have been the first SC democrat-appointed majority since the 1970s

Question 25

Congress’ constraints on president: Senate ratification of treaties

Answer 25

-2/3 majority is needed in order for a treaty to be ratified
-senate rarely rejects treaties, however some rejections have had big impacts i.e refusing to ratify the TOV after WW1 even though Woodrow Wilson played a leading role in the writing of the treaty and establishing the League of Nations
-more recent example was the senate refusal to ratify the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities(38/61 against were republicans, claiming it would have reduced the parental rights of children with disabilities)

Question 26

Congress’ constraints on president: the power to declare war

Answer 26

-although they have this power in theory, congress has not used it since 1947
-under the war powers act 1971, presidents should ask congress to approve military action, but this has not always been followed

Question 27

Congress’ constraints on president: Investigation

Answer 27

-high profile investigations are a key oversight function and generate media scrutiny
-i.e Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and its possible links to Russian interference was investigated by numerous congressional committees, including the senate intelligence committee which produced a multi volume report on it, vice chair of committee, Dem Mark Warner described the scale of the event as ‘unprecedented in the history’ of the nation

Question 28

Investigation: Watergate Scandal

Answer 28

-select committee on presidential campaign activities was set up in 1973 to investigate Nixon’s involvement in the ‘72 Watergate break in despite him promising he has no connection to it
-the committee hearings were broadcast live on TV, with 85% of the population seeing at least portions of the hearings
-his refusal to comply prompted the House to commence a formal impeachment process on him
-after tapes incriminating Nixon were given in by the Oval office under the SC’s orders, Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment for obstruction of justice + abuse of presidential power

Question 29

Congress’ constraints on president: Impeachment and trial of the president

Answer 29

-HOR can impeach the president with a simple majority vote +must be acquitted by the senate 2/3 majority needed for a guilty verdict
-only 3 presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson(1868), Bill Clinton(1998), Donald Trump(2019 + 2021)

Question 30

Impeachments of Trump

Answer 30

-first impeachment was by the Dem-controlled HOR in Dec 2019, after being accused of having used aid to compel the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden and his son(all the Democrats in the senate and one republican voted for impeachment)
-second impeachment was after the Dem-controlled house charged him with ‘incitement of insurrection’ referring to the Capitol Hill attack(7 republican senators voted for his impeachment)

Question 31

Judiciary’s constraints on the president: Judicial review

Answer 31

-process by which the judiciary examines the actions of the executive and determines whether they are lawful or unconstitutional
-i.e federal courts halted Trump’s 2017 ban on travellers from certain Muslim countries
-Supreme court ruled that the president had no absolute right to refuse to give his personal financial records to criminal prosecutors–} Kavanaugh explained that “no one is above the law” and that principle applies to a president

Question 32

Congress’ constraints on president: Liberal-conservative balance

Answer 32

-balance in the SC determines their interpretation of the constitution + therefore affects their rulings
-i.e conservative leaning SC ruled in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard(2023) that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions processes violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment(6-3 vote, where all 3 dissenting judges were liberal)

Question 33

How may pressure groups contribute to constraining president’s power?

Answer 33

-donate large amounts to the election campaigns of members of congress
-i.e the NRA successfully convinced many members of congress to block Obama’s gun control reforms in 2013, for example, Pat Roberts, who has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA and had received over $20,000 in donations

Question 34

How may state govts contribute to constraining president’s power?

Answer 34

-can actively work against the president’s agenda with the help of the state governor(like a chief executive for each state)
-i.e Democrat Californian governor Jerry Brown signed a bill passed by the state legislature that made California a sanctuary state in direct opposition to Trump’s immigration policies as Trump had signed an exec order removing federal funding from ‘sanctuary states’ that did not support federal immigration enforcement

Question 35

How may attitudes of the media and public opinion contribute to constraining president’s power?

Answer 35

-media can give presidents unfavourable coverage i.e Obama felt that his administration was unfairly attacked by Fox News(conservative channel)–} in 2009, host referred to Obama as a ‘racist’ with a “a deep-seated hatred for white people.”
-Trump claimed his agenda was being undermined by fake news and took an aggressive approach to liberal leaning media such as CNN and MSNBC i.e during a COVID briefing in 2020, Trump called an NBC correspondent a “you’re a terrible reporter” and said he had a “very nasty question”

Question 36

What is the cabinet?

Answer 36

-group of advisers chosen by the president to help run the federal govt
-includes the VP and 15 exec departments
-cabinet officers come from a variety of backgrounds:
- former politicians i.e Hillary Clinton was a senator before she became Obama’s secretary of state(2009-13)
- academics i.e Nobel Prize winning physicist Stephen Chu was Obama’s secretary of energy
- Military officers i.e Biden appointed retired general Lloyd Austin as secretary of defence in 2021

Question 37

Nature of the relationship between the cabinet and president

Answer 37

-makeup of the cabinet generally reflects president’s priorities which can help them run the administration smoothly i.e Trump said he wanted officers who ‘had made a fortune’ and appointed many lobbyists like Andrew Wheeler as head of the Environmental Protection Agency who was formerly a coal lobbyist
-i.e Biden promised that his cabinet ‘the most diverse in history’–} appointed first AA defence secretary(Lloyd Austin) + first female treasury secretary(Janet Yellen)
-constitutionally, the president has sole executive authority meaning president can easily dismiss a cabinet member e.g. Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson over Twitter in 2018
-cabinet is not a forum for collective decision making so meet less regularly (in 2020 Trump held one meeting)

Question 38

What is the executive office of the president(EXOP)?

Answer 38

-group of offices that support the president in running the govt
-includes the white house office, National security council, the office of management and budget + the office of the VP
-EXOP was originally set up by Franklin D Roosevelt in the 1930s as the federal govt grew in response to the Great Depression
-headed by the White House chief of staff

Question 39

White House office

Answer 39

-works most closely with the president
-had more than 400 employees in 2019
-includes a collection of offices such as the office of the chief of staff + the office of cabinet affairs