The extent to which executive power may be used by any individual president is often disputed. Executive power has gradually been expanding over the past years as each president interprets the lengths of boundaries. All of our presidents have impacted the fluctuation executive power, whether positively or negatively; however, President Obama had the greatest impact with the expansion of executive power by focusing on broadening human rights within our own nation, and also by helping the United States regain balance in the international community. Other nations are much farther in regards to human rights, and this remains an issue for the citizens of the United States for a couple reasons. President Obama has not only recognized this issue, but has worked to combat it, and as a result of this he …show more content…
Obama has expanded this power without Congress, but “Michael McConnell, a former federal judge who is now a professor of law and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School disagrees, writing, ‘While the president does have substantial discretion about how to enforce a law, he has no discretion about whether to do so.’” According to some people, such as Michael McConnell, the executive power is limited to simply offering ideas to enforce a law, but the president should be confined to the parameters set by Congress. On simple face value, this sounds very plausible; however, as with the current situation, Congress and the president do not agree on several major issues. By restricting the executive power to the limits set by Congress, we also hinder several aspects of expansion upon the powers. By following these standards we would not see the same level of advancement we currently do see through the advancement of human rights and gaining power within the international
1. When the Constitution was drafted “Article II, Section 2, clause 2 grants the President the power to ‘appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States [except those whose positions are not otherwise already provided for in the Constitution. And] Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers…in the President alone” (Presidential Powers). However, the issue of removal powers of the president where not addressed within the Constitution, therefore this issue is one that has been debated. The issue with removal power is if the president is given too much power and many member of Congress opposed this power.
Briefly explain / cite examples of the following Executive powers: Appointment Power- This allows the president to appoint (with the advice of the senate) ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all officers of the united states. Power to Convene Congress- This is the “state of the union”, basically allows president to convene both sectors of congress to discuss issues.
Roles of the President As the chief executive commander-in-chief, chief diplomat, head of state, legislative leader, economic leader and party leader, the president has an immense amount of responsibility to ensure that the American citizens are given there right there life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Of the multiple responsibilities of the president, for filling the tasks of the commander-in-chief, economic leader, and chief diplomat has a large impact on how the American government is today. President Franklin D Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and John F. Kennedy each play a vital role in preventing America from a multitude of problems today. To protect the common good of the American population, the president acts as the commander-in-chief, economic leader, and chief diplomat, ensuring citizens their rights.
Determining the specificities of what the framers originally intended, however, is the subject to some debate. Saikrishna Prakash, a distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, analyses the question of original meaning of executive power in his essay “The Essential Meaning of Executive Power”. He argues that not only is the president chief legislator, chief military officer, and the nation's top diplomat, he is “first and foremost...the chief executive empowered by the executive power to execute Congress’s laws and to control the law execution of executive officers”(Prakash, 820). He also acknowledges Justice Scalia’s assessment “that a complete understanding of the executive power might take 7,000 pages and thirty years to complete”(Prakash, 820). Suggesting that we have to be cautious in trying to analyze the presidency from a pure originalist point of view, and that we have to adapt to the ambiguities that result from the evolution of presidential power.
• In order to determine whether or not the executive privileges of the President should be recognized as legitimate in a court setting, it was necessary to identify how the ability to withhold information from judicial review may cause a disruption of due process. • Executive privilege was determined to not be absolute in nature, and therefore any material of interest to a court of law is fully subject to judicial review. • The President may still retain executive privileges, however, so long as they do not obstruct the judicial process and/or hinder the functioning capabilities of other branches of the Federal Government, in the interest of preserving checks and balances.
The message that came across was that the President was essentially too good to obey the law. o This resulted in many presidents acting weaker until about the start of the 21st century, when then issue over executive privilege started to arise. Running the Government: The Chief Executive • It is common to see that people forget it is also the president’s responsibility to work with other branches of the government. o
Should the Executive Privilege Be Absolute In United States, the Executive Privilege played a positive role on the president in domestic and foreign policy decisions, defend national interests and the protection of national defense secrets. However, this privilege can be abused by the president and executive members as well in seizing power, even provide legal basis to disguise their illicit activities at the White House. In my point of view, I think the executive privilege should not be absolute due to lack of transparency and supervision on the matter of personal interest and national security. As the strongest nation across the global, the president and members of the executive of the United States has the power to conduct a number of operations or information in secret and the executive privilege grants them to resist some legislative and branches of government for disclosing those communications if would potentially interfere the functions of executive branch (Legal Information Institute).
If assistance is needed the president can invoke the authority and enforce Laws. The implied powers the president has taken over time are the authorities to negotiate treaties and sign executive agreements.
Now the Supreme Court is deciding whether or not it will allow millions of undocumented immigrants to apply for programs that make them eligible for work authorization and benefits through the programs by the President. The President can make executive actions that effect the regulations of the governments issues, when he sees that congress is not taking action and that is what Obama did. The founding father made it difficult to create laws, they know if a person or group of people is given too much power then the government could be more easily manipulated so why do they want to over step an executive order, it that is why it was created
Within Section I of Article II it is written, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President”. Like the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch has many important responsibilities within the federal government. Some of the most important duties of the Executive Branch is carrying out laws that the Legislative Branch has approved, recommending legislation to Congress, and the President acts as the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military. However, just like the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch has a system in place to ensure not one branch of the federal government gains too much power over the people.
No, the president should not have the power to use executive orders without congress approval. If the president were to have new initiatives in which he would like to enact, I think they should have to go through congress. The government created the three branches in order to equalize government power. The three branches were made for a purpose: one branch creates laws, one branch executes laws, and another interprets laws. Our three branches of government should communicate and work together not against each
“The president 's power is felt all over the world.” No nation is so remote from the U.S. that they can avoid the repercussions of American diplomacy. The president can abuse their powers and it will affect the U.S as well as other countries that associate with us. “The formal powers as listed in the Constitution say little about a modern president 's real power.” Modern presidents have way more power than was is listed in the constitution, they do not have to follow the guidelines completely like past presidents would have had to.
What is the perfect amount of power for an executive leader to have and what would happen if this leader would have too much power? When it comes to an executive leader’s power, a happy medium must be obtained in order to have a successful government. Ultimately, the executive leader should have enough power to react to an attack or threat in a timely manner, but not enough power that the executive leader can do whatever he or she wants. When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution, they had to establish an executive leader because under the Articles of Confederation it took too long for pressing matters to be dealt with and there was no one for foreign countries to look to. Article II of the Constitution set up the the Executive Branch which established the role of the president and vested the executive power in the President of the United States of
But how much power does he actually have? The president has a number of specific powers. He can issue executive orders and he can extend pardons for federal crimes. He has the power to sign legislation into law, or veto bills enacted by Congress.
Power can be translated to the “ability to influence others” (Agunis, Pierce, & Simonsen, 1998, p. 456). Barack Obama has influenced millions in his lifetime by taking the power he desires to have, from being an attorney, moving up to Illinois State Senator, to becoming a US President for two terms. While he was a Senator in 2004 he was invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention. In his Keynote Address, he expressed different bases of power as he spoke. The bases of power, as explained by Agunis, Pierce, and Simonsen, are reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert.