Presidential Powers and Roles

Chief Citizen

Role: Voting, Supporting the Nation, Helping Others, Recognizing Public Service

Commander in Chief

Role: Declaring War, Visiting Troops, Appointing and Dismissing Commanders

Chief Diplomat

Role: Representing the U.S., Diplomatic Meetings, Signing Treaties

Chief Executive

Role: State of the Union Address, Proposing Budget, Nominating Officials

Chief Host

Role: Hosting Events, Meeting Influential Citizens, Entertaining Athletes

Chief Legislator

Role: Talking to Lawmakers, Signing and Vetoing Legislation

Presidential Powers

Directly stated by the constitution: Approve or Veto Bills, Write Checks, Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution, Serve as Commander-in-Chief, Require written opinions from executive officers, Grant reprieves and pardons, Make treaties, Nominate ambassadors and officials, Fill vacancies, Advise Congress, Convene and adjourn Congress, Receive ambassadors, See that laws are executed, Commission U.S. officers

Policy Agenda Implementation

Influence Congress through powers and functions, prioritize according to political demands, non-decisions, and requests from policymakers

Formal and Informal Powers

Head of government, head of state, implements laws, executive orders, nominations and appointments, commander in chief, negotiate treaties, veto bills, presidential pardons, executive privilege

Confrontations with Congress

Conflict over executive branch appointments, policy initiatives, and executive orders

Influential Decision

Nominating Supreme Court Justices: Interpreting and applying laws, lifetime term, influence on law enforcement

Interpretation of Powers

Presidents interpret formal and informal powers differently, use signing statements for formal powers, Supreme Court decides on informal powers

Federalist 70

Outlines the Presidency

Unitary executive (accountability, unity)

Energy

Designed to be quicker in decision making than Legislature.

Autonomy

Checks and balances, separation of powers

Presidential terms- Long enough to create stability, but prevent tyranny

Why is it important?

Defines ⅓ of the structure of US government

It gives the president to expand power outside of the Constitution

Prevents the Executive branch from being the weakest.

Communication Technology Impact

Easier communication with voters, pressure on representatives, caution in public statements

Presidential Election Processes

Incumbency advantage, open and closed primaries, caucuses, party conventions, general elections, electoral college

Incumbency advantage phenomenon

The idea that incumbents are more likely to win reelections.
Visibility- People are more likely to know the returning candidates
Have more experience
Resources- more likely to be funded by PACs and other agencies
Connections- returning presidential candidates have more presidential related connections than others.

Open and closed primaries

Open
Candidates don't need to be affiliated with a certain party to vote in an election.
Presidential candidates need to focus more on less partisan issues.
Closed
Voter must be a registered voter of a specific party
Candidates can be more divisive and more left/right-winged than usual.

Cacuses

Chosen members of a political party decide which candidates should be the presidential nominee.
Front-loading- when a Caucus is placed early in the year to force that state to be more important (ie. Iowa)

Party Conventions

Conventions where the presidential nominee is chosen.
Delegates from each state come and decide who won.
The Vice-president is announced at this time.

General( Presidential) elections

A national vote across the whole country that selects the president.
Voted in each state to win electoral votes
the Tuesday after the first Monday in November

The electoral college

Each state has a selected number of electoral votes.
Delegates decide who to give the votes for
Normal decisions are made based on votes of the people, but can go against.
538 electors
A majority of 270 electoral votes is required
Each candidate has own group of electors (slate)
Chosen on political parties
People vote on which slate during the general election
Winners take all systems in all states except Maine and Nebraska.

Explain how communication technology has changed the president's relationship with the national constituency and the other branches.

The increasing use of communication technology has made it easier for presidents to communicate with voters, put pressure on representatives, and it is easier to inform voters. As technology has developed, it has been easier and easier for the president to get a message out in case of an event or a crisis. This has also allowed the president to use the bully pulpit and to 'go public', both of which ways the president talks directly to the American people to pressure other branches into doing what they want. The president now also has to be very careful about what they say because it will be everywhere on the internet, accessible by everyone.

Explain how presidents have interpreted and justified their use of formal and informal powers.

There have been 45 presidents in the United States. Each one has interpreted their informal and formal powers differently.
Formal powers can be debated over, but they aren't debated over as much as informal powers because they are expressly written. One way that the government has solved this is by creating signing statements. When the president signs a bill, they are allowed to write comments about how they interpret the law or just about the bill in general. This leads to less confusion when future presidents or people read it.
Informal powers are often debated over because they aren't expressly written in the Constitution. The Supreme Court decides whether an informal power is actually helping the president carry out a formal power, or if it is just giving them too much power. Executive orders are an example of an informal power. It has often been said that executive orders give the president too much power, but a president can still issue executive orders. Another example of an informal power is executive privilege. During the Watergate Scandal in Nixon's term, the Supreme Court decided that executive privilege is reasonable, however it isn't absolute and can be overruled if necessary.

Discuss a president's most influential decision during office

Nominating Supreme Court Justice
Power of a Supreme Court justice is interpreting the law, deciding what situations the law is relevant to, and how it should be applied.
Their term is for the rest of their life
There are only nine justices, and the president needs them to support him because he is the one who has to enforce the laws that they interpret.

Explain how the president's agenda can create tension and frequent confrontations with Congress

The potential for conflict with the Senate depends upon the type of executive branch appointments, including:
▶ Cabinet members ▶ Ambassadors
▶ White House staff
b: Senate confirmation is an important check on appointment powers, but the president's longest lasting influence lies in life-tenured judicial appointments.
c: Policy initiatives and executive orders promoted by the president often lead to conflict with the congressional agenda.

Formal and Informal Powers (At Least 5)

Head of government, head of state (Formal)
Power comes from the Vesting clause
Symbolic and political representative of the country
Implements the laws (Formal)
Makes sure that laws are properly implemented
Turns Legislative goals into programs, budgets, and regulations
Executive orders (Informal)
The president changes government policy without Congressional approval.
Most don't have an extensive effect, but a few do.
President may use executive orders when they know Congress won't pass a bill.
Congress can overrule executive orders
Nomination and appointments of executive branch (Formal)
Appoints lots of people (~ 8000)
Ambassadors
Bureaucrats
Judiciary Branch (Supreme Court Judiciaries)
About 1200 appointments require Senate confirmation
Commander in chief of armed forces (Formal)
The Constitution doesn't say who controls the military since the president is the Commander in Chief, but Congress can declare war.
Presidents generally control the everyday operations.
Wars Power Resolution
Created during Watergate Scandal
Gives the president power over the military for 90 days
Encourages president to seek Congressional approval before taking military action
Negotiate treaties and executive agreements (Formal)
Two-step process
President and staff negotiates treaties
Senate ratifies the treaty
Executive agreements don't need Senate approval so they are easier to put in place.
President represents the US when communicating with other nations
Veto Bills (Formal)
The president can overturn a bill
Veto can be overturned by a ⅔ vote for Congress
Pocket veto is a special type of veto where the president doesn't sign or veto a bill.
Presidential pardons (Formal)
The President can pardon or reduce punishments for federal crimes.
Often pardons are unimportant, but some attract attention.
Executive privilege (Informal)
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Explain how the president can implement a policy agenda

The president can influence congress to implement a policy agenda. He does this through a "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" method. Presidents use powers and functions of the office to accomplish a policy agenda. Formal and informal powers the president has.
It is prioritized in accordance with the political priorities of the people who determine policy; it is not the whole of all political demands Leaders, interest groups, crises or disasters, large-scale organizations or protests, media attention, etc.They are just a few examples of people or organizations that may attempt to get their issues on the policy agenda. "Non-decisions" are choices not to think about a certain topic. Therefore, The requests that policymakers consent to take into account make up the policy agenda.

Presidential Powers

Has the power to approve or veto bills and resolutions passed by Congress
Through the Treasury Department, has the power to write checks pursuant to appropriation laws.
Pursuant to the Oath of Office, will preserve, protect, and defend the Consitution of the United States.
Serves as Commander-in-Chief of the United States military, and militia when called to service.
Is authorized to require principle officers of executive departments to provide written opinions upon the duties of their offices
Has the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in the cases of inpeachment.
Has the power to make treaties, with the advise and consent of Congress.
Has the power to nominate ambassadors and other officials with the advise and consent of Congress.
Has the power to fill vacancies that happen when the Senate is in recess that will expire at the end of the Senate's next session.
Shall periodically advise Congress on the state of the union and give Congress recommendations that are thought necessary and expedient.
Has the power to convene one or both houses of Congress during extraordinary occasions, and when Congress cannot agree to adjourn has the power to adjourn them when he thinks the time is proper.
Has the duty to receive ambassadors and other public ministers.
Has the duty to see that the laws are faithfully executed.
Has the power to commission the officers of the United States.