...Presidential power has been an important topic of consideration and debate since the founding of the nation. Many presidents have tested the limits of the Constitutional provisions regarding the authorities of the executive branch, and in response, both the judicial and legislative branches have imposed the proper checks and balances via court rulings and newly legislated limitations. In modern American politics, many question the Constitutional legitimacy of various executive actions taken by the most recent presidents. However, the expansion of presidential power is certainly not unique to Presidents Bush or Obama. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, presidents have gradually increased their powers in response to wars, terrorism, and congressional gridlock, among other things. Furthermore, the broad definition of the executive branch’s duties found in the second article of the Constitution has led to contradicting interpretations about the proper applications of the executive powers. As...
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...from taking them away. Government is the problem, not the solution. Policy is inherently bad. It was the fear of what the government could do to you that motivated its nationhood. Why the US is different -founded on an idea - Born free- rights are inalienable -Wary on power -Strong on nationhood -Founded on ‘science of politics’ -People are supreme via Constitution The politics of a written text ‘Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.’ Alexis de Tocqueville (1840) Democracy in America, Book I, ch.16 -slavery -civil rights -abortion -healthcare Constitution Problematic Bill of Rights (1791) The first 10 amendments to the Constitution -1,2,3: limits of Congress 4, 5, 6: limits on executive 7, 8: limits on both (via judiciary) 9, 10: federalism (limits on national power) All posit limits on the institutions in the Constitution. Two parts of the doc, the first iteration is not sufficient to cool the fears of the anti-federalism. Madison creates these posited limits. The Separation of Powers The basic problem of government. How one separates power. There are 3 key obstacles to power in the USA. SoP – obliges competition across departments. Federalism is the primary barrier states have against the federal...
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...There are no effective checks on Presidential power. Discuss There are a number of ways the President has got a number of powers that make the executive more powerful than Congress and the Judiciary. Through the President’s power to announce legislation, appoint federal jobs, be Commander in Chief, negotiate treaties and veto legislation; hold the Executive as a more powerful body than the other two. However, there are a number of checks and balances that the Legislature and the Judiciary hold over the Executive that limit the President’s power. The extent of the limitations on the President’s power will be examined in this essay. The President’s ability to announce legislation during his annual State of Union address gives the President an opportunity to highlight the legislative agenda that he wants to get passed in the forthcoming year. This is an important power to the President because if Congress adjourns without acting on his proposals, the President has the power to call Congress into a unique session at his discretion. Also, the President can force adjournment in Congress if both houses cannot agree on a piece of legislation, therefore the president has a deciding vote in theory over some legislation. The President, as he is a powerful influence on public opinion he is a powerful influence over Congress. However, the President does not sit within the Legislature and therefore does not have the power to propose direct legislation. Congress can also adjourn his ‘emergency...
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...has the power to reject nominations made by the President. Congress also has the power to amend, delay or reject the president’s legislative proposals. As well as this limitation, there are many checks and balances put in place by Congress to limit the power of the president including: the power to override the president’s veto the power to amend budgetary requests through the power of the purse and impeach and try the president with possible removal from office if found guilty. However, it is an issue today that although Congress have these powers, there are not effective checks put on the president’s power today. The Supreme Court can declare the actions of any member of the executive branch, including the president, to be unconstitutional. For example, Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer (The Steel Seizure Case) was a United States Supreme Court decision that limited the power of the President of the United States to seize private property in the absence of either specifically enumerated authority under Article Two of the United States Constitution or statutory authority conferred on him by Congress. Also, in Rasul v Bush the Supreme Court ruled that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay did have access to the federal courts to challenge their detention, therefore striking down the Bush administration’s legal policy regarding the war on terror. These cases prove the constitutional limits on presidential power and that there are effective checks on presidential power. Public...
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...Effects of the expansion of Presidential power, and an argument for placing limits and rescinding the additional authority following a crisis By Timothy C. Sollenberger In the 200 years since the ratification of the Constitution, there has been an expansion in the executive branch power base. The majority of this expansion has occurred in the last 70 years. The changes themselves can be attributed to growth of the United States as a world power with gains in military prestige, diplomatic negotiations, as well as economic activities and interests globally which have perpetuated wars, and perceived emergencies. The current media formats and reporting have also had a profound influence on Presidential popularity which has exponentially increased the perceived notion that recent presidents are empowered by the people to make decisions which should require the acquiescence of Congress or the States. Presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt did make advantageous gains for the country in different areas, but the lack of dissemination of information to the elected legislature showed a general disregard for appropriate etiquette and initial public approval. The powers and duties of the president are outlined in Article II of the Constitution. Although the Constitution grants far fewer powers to the president in Article II than it does to Congress in Article I, the...
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...Chapter 3 Separation of Powers- giving distinct powers to Congress, the president, and the federal courts. Federal supremacy- cause federal statues to preempt inconsistent state law. Federal law is supreme to state law. Federalism- structures power relations between the federal government and the states. Judicial review-Courts declare the actions of other government bodies unconstitutional. Police power-broad state power to regulate for the public health, safety, morals, and welfare. Enumerated powers- (USC limits government regulatory powers in two ways). Restricts federal legislative authority by listing the powers that congress can exercise. Second, USC limits both state and federal power by placing certain independent checks in the path of each. Eminent domain- government formally condemns land through its power. Article I-Congress composed of a Senate and a House of representatives, gives a sole power to legislate at the federal level, and sets out rules for the enactment of legislation. (Section 8 when congress can make laws by stating its legislative powers…Three of those powers…The commerce, tax, and the spending powers. Section 7…president power to veto legislation passed by congress to override a veto by a two thirds vote of each house.) Article II-Gives president the executive power the power to execute or enforce the laws passed by congress. (Section 2…powers to command the nation’s armed forces and to make its treaties. ...
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...the issue of congressional authority to limit executive power must be examined through years of previous cases, Supreme Court decisions, and Congress’s enumerated powers. Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, but doesn’t specify what exactly that entails. On the other hand, the President is granted power to direct the military after war declaration. Because congressional authority can limit executive power, there are a few examples of Congress overriding decisions made by the President. In Ex parte Merryman, during the 1860’s President Lincoln unilaterally orders a blockade, suspends maritime law and habeas corpus, and issues the Emancipation Proclamation. With a clear overstep on his powers, Congress approves the blockade and the...
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...that he heads the world’s foremost superpower. As world statesman and commander-in-chief there have been instances, particularly in the foreign affairs arena, where the president has been able to wield enormous power. However, if we look closely, this claim is too simplistic given that the checks and balances principle inherent in the Constitution. This means that on a domestic level the President remains heavily constrained with the separation of powers ensuring that there exist many opportunities for the legislature to control the work of the President. This has led people to claim that he ‘only has the power to persuade’ since without Congress’ support, he has relatively little power. This essay will examine the claim by investigating how powerful the American President really is. As head of state, it is the President who represents his country on the international scene where traditionally in times of international relations, Congress shows the President huge amounts of deference. Indeed, this has been the area where at times the President has been able to wield enormous power with tactical decisions on the deployment of troops, the general running of a war, and international relations rested firmly in his hands. For example, Obama’s decision to deploy troops to Libya, without congressional consent. This suggests that the President is indeed powerful and appears to undermine the claim that he only has the power to persuade. However, the extensive powers of the...
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...How much power does the President really have? Does the President sometimes overstep his boundaries? Can the President also be put in his place by the legislative branch or the judicial branch? The answer to both of the latter questions is yes. Yes the president oversteps his boundaries, but there are also times when he has almost no power and his powers can be taken away from him. There are times when he uses his influence and power to have an affair, when he goes to war without Congress making a declaration of war; there are times when he makes executive agreement that the Senate can do nothing about. There are also times when the president is impeached, which is the greatest of punishments when concerning the president. The president has many powers, both given by the Constitution and inferred. The president has a list of his powers and what he is allowed to do while in office. The Constitution itself gives the president his rights and boundaries. For instance, the president is allowed to be elected to a term for four years according to Article II of the Constitution. “He shall hold his office during the Term of four Years, together with the Vice President…” (Lawler, pg. 411) A follow up to this would be the 22nd Amendment which states that the president cannot be elected for more than two terms. “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice…” (Lawler, pg 422) This amendment was put into place after Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for...
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...Amanda Guzman July 23, 2015 EWS 19 President’s Authority The article “Presidential Power” by Christina L. Lyons represents a dispute that Congress is having with President Obama believing that he is overstepping his authority with executive power. To begin with, Republicans are making accusations saying that Obama is accusing Obama for abusing the Constitution and Democrats are defending him by saying he’s taking action because Congress is taking long to respond. Many presidents have overstepped the boundaries of using executive power to accomplish policy goals. But the debate over executive power has been building up over the years and has led a conflict between Republicans and Democrats. Between the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branch there has been a great gridlock with no one coming to an agreement. Due to the gridlock the conflict between Republicans and Presidential power has been a battle. Eventually, both sides will have to come to some sort of a compromise, whether a law comes into place of presidents having a limit to executive power. (Lyons, 2015, p. 219) During President Obama’s presidency, he has exceeded his power of enforcing executive orders over 210 times. That’s an average of 33 executive orders a year issued by President Obama alone. Executive orders are unbreakable legal orders given by the President to Federal Administrative Agencies. This power allows the president to create laws or determine how existing laws should be carried out. President...
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...discuss the limits to presidential power, the importance of the presidency’s informal powers. Explain whether you think the nature of presidential power makes the Presidency too weak, or too strong. In 1776 America declared independence from British Empire and became forming a national government. In 1777 Congress adopted The Article of Confederation. This attempt to structure an American government failed; The Article of Confederation was unsuccessfully because it restricted the national government; most power was concentrated on the states’ level. The states kept their autonomy. The national government was lack of authority, it was hard to collect taxes from each state; foreign trade was suffering because foreign counties which wanted to conduct business with the United States had to negotiate separate agreements with Congress and a state. In addition to all of these problems the Article of Confederation did not even include a president or any other executive leader because people were in their zeal to reject monarch; everybody was tried of British tyranny and they were worried if they used this model of government it would lead to the same results as they had during British colony’s time. However, in 1787 Constitutional Convention began in Philadelphia (Bianco & Canon, 2013, p.33). The framers of the Constitution understood that confederation did not work. So framers based the new American government on an entirely new theory: federalism, which divides power across...
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...this year that interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter - and we are only halfway through," Obama said during his annual year-end news conference. But the seventh year of Obama's presidency also challenged anew his cautious and restrained approach to international crises, particularly in the Middle East. Attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, heightened fears of terror on American soil and Obama's attempts to reassure Americans fell flat. And a seemingly endless string of mass shootings elsewhere in the country exposed the sharp limits of Obama's power to implement the gun control measures he speaks of with passion. Obama now stares down 11 months before his successor is chosen in an election shaping up to be a referendum on his leadership at home and abroad. He stirs deep anger among many Republicans, a constant reminder of his failure to make good on campaign promises to heal Washington's divisiveness. But he remains popular among Democrats and foresees a role campaigning for his party's nominee in the general election. The president is...
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...Presidential Powers Since the birth of modern Presidency in the 1930’s, Presidential powers have been growing at an alarmingly unreasonable rate. It would seem as though the further into the future we get, the more unconstitutional this country becomes. Many of the laws laid down by our founding fathers were very vague, however, for the most part, they were deciphered and regarded as the law of the land. Recently it would appear that political officials are twisting around these vague entries to fit the criteria that is convenient at the time, or worse, circumventing the laws entirely; thus debilitating our constitutional system of separation of powers. Let’s start with signing statements. According to the Constitution, Article II, the President can sign the bill or veto it. That is the Constitutional limit to his power with signing statements. Modern presidents, however, use these statements as ways to incorporate their own thoughts on the bill and “announcing a president’s intention to violate particular sections of the bill he is signing into law” (Swanson, 4). By doing this he is clearly overstepping his authority as president, since it is the duty of his Congress to make laws and not his place to either critique them or disregard them. While on the subject of inadvertence to law, let’s go over the ever so continuous controversy of the Anti Torture Act. In 1988 President Ronald Regan signed the UN Convention Against Torture, prohibiting any such acts as to...
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...features of both Presidentialism and Parliamentarism, thus distinguish between their most contrasting features. I will be tackling this paper from different perspectives, in order to ultimately to suggest a better structure of government. Features such as the efficiency of each system in implementing government policies needs to be considered. Furthermore, factors such as political stability and order needs to be considered in suggesting a better form of government. Political stability refers to the frequency at which the government changes, where as political order refers to level of civil obedience every time there is a change to the political system. Parliamentary system In a political system run by a parliamentary system, the executive power of the government resides with the Prime Minster and her/her cabinet, which is voted by a democratically voted legislature. The party which holds the majority of the support, is said to have the 'confidence' of the cabinet. In the case where there is no majority party in the cabinet, decisions and actions of the government are decided through a series of bargains and debates between the different parties in the cabinet (British parliament backs hybrid embryos, 2008). There isn't a fixed term for a party to be in charge of a parliament; the prime minister and his political party hold office as long as they command the majority of the confidence in the legislature. As soon as the Parliament loses confidence in the legislature, there is an...
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...The electoral college serves as vital tool in the presidential election process. Since the early days of our history, we have had a federalist-republican form of government with the electoral college helping decide the presidency. It was created in the early days of the constitutional convention of 1787, so as to limit uneducated voters power in the election,and to leave the vote into the hands of informed people, and still remains part of our system today. The electoral college functions as so, if a presidential candidate wins the majority of the population in one state, then the state and it’s electoral votes go to that candidate, after a certain threshold of 270 electoral votes has been reached, that person becomes the president, most of...
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