Identify the expressed, implied, delegated, and inherent powers of the presidency.
Describe the institutional resources presidents have to help them exercise their powers.
Explain how modern presidents have become even more powerful.
Presidential Power Is Rooted in the Constitution
The framers believed a single executive would be energetic and better able to protect the nation’s interests.
The president’s expressed powers, granted by the Constitution, fall into five categories:
Military
Judicial
Diplomatic
Executive
Legislative
The president, as commander in chief, is the highest military authority in the United States, with control of the entire defense establishment.
The Constitution delegates to the president, as commander in chief, the obligation to protect every state against invasion and domestic violence.
The presidential power to grant reprieves, pardons, and amnesty involves power over individuals who may be a threat to the security of the United States.
The power to receive representatives of foreign countries allows the president almost unconditional authority to determine whether a new ruling group can commit its country to treaties and other agreements. Recently, presidents have increased the use of executive agreements instead of treaties.
The president’s executive power consists of:
The ability to appoint, remove, and supervise all executive officers
The ability to appoint all federal judges (with Senate approval)
Executive privilege is the claim that confidential communications between a president and close advisers should not be revealed without presidential consent.
The president’s legislative power consists of:
The constitutional requirement to deliver a State of the Union address
The president’s constitutional power to veto any acts of Congress
The ability to pocket veto a bill by not signing it during the final 10 days of the legislative session.
The Constitution also provides the president with the power of legislative initiative, implying the ability to formulate proposals for important policies.
Implied powers are powers that are not directly stated in the Constitution but are those powers the president has claimed are needed to allow the exercise of their power.
Delegated powers are powers given to the president by Congress. Because of the expansion of government in the last century, Congress has voluntarily delegated a great deal of its own legislative authority to the executive branch.
Inherent powers are not expressed in the Constitution but are inferred from it. For example, though the president is commander in chief, only Congress can declare war. However, presidents have gone a long way in capturing this power for themselves. In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution as a response to presidential unilateralism, but presidents have generally ignored it.
Presidents Claim Many Institutional Powers
The institutional presidency consists of the thousands of officials and staffers who work for, assist, or advise the chief executive. This gives the president a capacity for action that no single individual could duplicate.
The Cabinet is the designation for the heads of all the major federal government departments, but it is not a collective body. It meets but makes no decisions as a group.
The White House staff, which is composed primarily of analysts and advisers, has grown from an informal group of fewer than a dozen people to a new presidential bureaucracy.
The Executive Office of the President (EOP) is larger than the White House staff and comprises the president’s permanent management agencies. The Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers both fall under this category.
The National Security Council (NSC) is composed of designated Cabinet officials who meet regularly with the president to give advice on national security. The staff of the NSC assimilates and analyzes data from all intelligence gathering agencies (such as the CIA and NSA).
As the institutional presidency has grown in size and complexity, most presidents of the past 25 years have sought to use their vice presidents as a management resource after the election.
First spouses have traditionally limited their activities to the ceremonial portion of the presidency, though some first spouses have been more involved in policy aspects of the presidency.
Presidential Power Grew in the Twentieth Century
Presidents can expand their power in two ways: popular mobilization and reducing their dependence on Congress.
“Going public” as a source of presidential power has been especially significant in the past 50 years. Going public by using the Internet has changed how modern presidents govern, allowing them to broadcast policy ideas directly to citizens. But popular support for the president can be fickle and tends to decline over the course of a president’s administration.
Contemporary presidents have increased the administrative capabilities and power of their office by:
Enhancing the reach and power of the Executive Office of the President
Increasing White House control over the federal bureaucracy
Expanding the role of executive orders, signing statements, and other instruments of direct presidential governance
Presidential power continues to be limited by Congress, which can decide not to fund presidential initiatives and block presidential appointments.