The Executive Branch. Qualifications and Terms Must be: –35 years old –Natural-born citizen –14 years as resident Terms of Office: –4 years –May serve.

The Executive Branch

Qualifications and Terms

• Must be:– 35 years old– Natural-born citizen– 14 years as resident

• Terms of Office:– 4 years– May serve 2 terms or 10 years– 22nd Amendment

Presidential Powers

1. Running the Government – Officially in charge of the 3 million-plus executive

branch employees

2. Commander in Chief – In charge of armed forces

3. Diplomatic Powers – Deals with foreign governments

4. Economic Management– Sets agenda and budget– “The Buck stops here”

Presidential Powers

Formal• Formal Powers of President (Found in

Constitution)– Commander-in-chief– Appoints ambassadors and foreign policy

officials– Negotiates/makes treaties– Recognizes nations– Receives ambassadors and other heads of

state– Must give message to Congress from time to

time• Has become the State of the Union Address

Presidential Powers

Informal • Informal Powers of the President (Not in

Constitution)– Executive agreements– Access to media– Sets agenda – Meets with world leaders– Crisis manager– Builds coalitions with international community– Has access to expert knowledge and expertise– Recognized as global leader

Checks and Balances to Know

• Presidential Check on Legislative Branch

• Presidential Check on Judicial Branches

• Congressional Checks on Executive Branch

• Judicial Checks on Executive Branch

Checks and Balances to Know

• Executive Check on Legislative Branch– Veto

• Executive Check on Judicial Branch– Nominations of Federal Judges

• Legislative Checks on Executive Branch – Refusal to pass bill– Overriding a Veto– Impeachment and Conviction– Refusal to approve Presidential appointees– Refusal to ratify treaty– May also conduct investigations

• (Special Counselor Ken Starr)

• Judicial Checks on Executive Branch– Declaration of presidential acts as unconstitutional

• Judicial Review

22nd Amendment• Limits presidents to 2 terms or 10 years

– “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once."

• Criticism sometimes made of the 22nd Amendment is that it can seriously erode a second-term president's power and influence.

• Difficulties have been faced by every President during their second terms since the amendment's ratification.– Such a president is often referred to as a lame duck.

25th Amendment Presidential Succession and Disability • In case of death or resignation

1. Vice-President takes over 2. Speaker of House3. President Pro Tempore of the Senate4. Cabinet secretaries (in order of creation)

• In case of disability – President signs away authority to VP – If VP and majority of cabinet find President

“unfit” they can take power • President Palmer on “24” • Second Season

Also in 25th Amendment

• Vice-Presidential Succession and Disability – President nominates new candidate – Nominee confirmed by majority of both

houses• Nixon selected Senator Gerald Ford as the Vice-

President• President Ford selected Nelson Rockefeller as his

Vice-President

The Role of the President in Law Making

• He can take a bill that has passed both side of Congress and:

1. Sign it into law2. Let it become law (if Congress is in

session)3. Veto it4. Pocket veto (if Congress is not in

session) ** Congress can override presidential veto with a

2/3 vote of each house

Line Item Veto

• The 1996 line-item veto law allowed the president to pencil-out specific spending items approved by the Congress.

• It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court 1998, ruling that Congress did not have the authority to hand that power to the president.

• The 6-3 ruling said that the Constitution gives a president only two choices: either sign legislation or send it back to Congress.

Alexander Hamilton’s View of the Presidency

• Hamilton proposed a president who would be elected for life, "on good behavior." – That idea went nowhere as most delegate were

fearful of a powerful monarch-like executive

• Hamilton vigorously defended the strong-executive plan in the essays that became known as The Federalist Papers. – "Energy in the executive is a leading character in the

definition of good government,"

19th Century Presidents• Dominated by Congress

• Exceptions: – Washington

• Gave Presidency Legitimacy

– Jackson • First President to expand the powers of the

Presidency

– Lincoln • Set the foundations for the modern Presidency

20th Century Presidents• Extremely powerful

– Began with FDR• What Caused This?

– The Great Depression• New Deal legislation

– The Cold War • National Security

issues

•The Media-More attention to president

•Weak Congresses-Infighting and bipartisanship

•Other ideas…?

Two Modern Views of the Presidency

1. The Imperial presidency• Can be defined, as the use (or misuse!) of

discretionary power by the Chief Executive– Categorized by the large staffs of most modern

presidents• Comparisons to the royal courts of Europe

– Emphasis on the executive branch replacing Congress as “the most powerful branch• Hamilton would have LOVED this!

– Also includes the decline in importance of the cabinet

Two “Imperial” Presidents

• Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan both pushed the limits of the presidency – Both won huge 2nd term elections– Congress took the back seat in

power to both men– Watergate ended this for Nixon,

but Iran-Contra had little effect on Reagan’s imperial presidency

Specific Examples• Examples of the Imperial Presidency:

– Congress has ceded its budget-making authority to the president.

– Presidents make agreements with foreign nations without congressional approval by substituting executive agreements for treaties which required the approval of the Senate.

– The Commander-in-Chief role has also been expanded even though Congress is empowered to declare war. • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Two Modern Views of the Presidency

2. The Institutional presidency– The role of each new president in organizing and

managing the Executive Branch– Includes the:

• Executive Office of the President (EOP) • The White House Staff

– Chief of Staff as gatekeeper – The Cabinet – Most modern presidents have attempted to change

the Executive Office of the Presidency by adding new offices and employees OR deleting or firing employees

Parts of the Executive Branch

President

Cabinet DepartmentsAKA the

Executive Branch Departments

Executive Office of the President

Includes White House Staff

Independent Agencies& Commissions

Executive Office of the President“EOP”

• The Executive Office of the President is not a single office or department, but a collection of agencies that are all directly responsible for helping the president to deal with Congress and manage the larger executive branch.

Parts of the EOP

The White House Staff• White House staffers are usually

• Former campaigners, trusted workers• Hired and fired at will of president

• The most powerful White House Staffer is the Chief of Staff– Informally, the Chief of Staff is often one of the President's

closest political advisers, and also often a close personal friend.

– Often nicknamed "the gatekeeper."– Is responsible for overseeing the actions of other members

of White House staff, managing the president's timetable, and controlling outsiders' access to the president.

Executive Office of the Presidency

“EOP Agencies”• The EOP Agencies are agencies that report

directly to President• Most important agency-

– The Office of Management and Budget (OMB)• Other important EOP agencies

• National Security Advisors (NSA)• Council of Economic Advisors

• EOP agency heads are hired and fired at will– Congress is not involved with their approval

Executive Departments AKA “The Cabinet”

• Department heads advise the President on policy issues and help execute those policies. – Not mentioned in the Constitution– Created first by George Washington

• Cabinet secretaries are appointed by the president and need Senate approval

• The president controls the Cabinet• They are considered “yes” men and

women!• Don’t disagree (in public at least!)

The Cabinet Departments

AgricultureCommerce Defense EducationEnergy StateHeath and Human

ServicesHomeland Security

http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/cabinet.html

Housing and Urban Development

InteriorJusticeLaborStateTransportationTreasury Veteran’s Affairs

Independent Agenciesand Commissions

• The independent agencies and commissions are government offices that report to the President but have a more independence (AKA…Quasi- Independent) – FDIC, Postal Service, CIA, SEC, EPA…

• They make regulations to help implement laws– Do not report to the president for instructions– Deal with own issues and staff independently

• President appoints agency heads for fixed terms– Agency heads must be approved by Congress– Can be removed only for “just cause”

Independent Regulatory Agencies

• Independent regulatory agencies are independent of the executive departments.– Meant to impose and enforce regulation free of

political influence, and help carry out policy or provide special services.

• Securities and Exchange Commission• Consumer Product Safety Commission• Securities and Exchange Commission

• IRAs are run by a board rather than one person.– So even though the President appoints the board

members, the members serve terms longer than a single Presidential term

– The board members are also appointed at different times, so while it is likely that a President will appoint to all agencies/commissions, they would be unable to stack the Boards or Commissions.

President

White House Staff

Ex. Departmentsand agencies

3. Ad HocNo real format.

Access is limited or granted by president

or top aids on a case by case or “need to know”

manner.

2. CircularWhite House Staff

Independent Agencies

EOP Agencies

Cabinet

President

1. Pyramid

White House Structures

Watergate

• Watergate brought a temporary halt to the "imperial presidency" and the growth of the institutional presidential power

• Over the president's veto, Congress enacted the War Powers Act (1973), which required future presidents to obtain authorization from Congress to engage U.S. forces in foreign combat for more than 60 days (+30 if Pres. says it’s necessary). – Under the Act, a president who orders troops into

action abroad must report the reason for this action to Congress within 48 hours.

Important Acts and Cases

• Federalist 70

• Budget Reform Act of 1974

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• War Powers Act

• NAFTA

• Panama Canal Treaty

• US v Nixon

United States v Nixon (1974)• During the height of the Watergate scandal

President Nixon asserted that he was immune from a subpoena for his personal White House tapes claiming "executive privilege“.– The right to withhold information from other

government branches to preserve confidential communications within the executive branch or to secure the national interest.

Importance of Case• The Court said “No!!”• It did grant that there was a limited executive

privilege in areas of military or diplomatic affairs, but disagreed with Mr. Nixon claiming "the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of justice." – Therefore, the president must obey the subpoena and

produce the tapes and documents.

• Nixon resigned shortly after the release of the tapes.

The Electoral College Review

• The Electoral College is the assembly that formally elects the President and Vice President – Our votes simply elect the electors that vote

for the President

• Number of electoral votes – 538 Total – 270 Needed to get elected

Electoral College (continued)

• Electoral votes are divided up by state

• Number of state electoral votes is equal to the state’s number of House Representatives and Senators – Exception:– Washington, DC gets 3 Votes

Electors Review

• How selected? – Varies with each state – Usually selected by state parties or

committees

• Who are they? – Party loyalists – Party leaders – Friends of the candidate

Contingency Election for President

• If one candidate does not win 270 votes, it goes to the House of Representatives

• Top three candidates receiving electoral votes

• Each state has one vote

• Need a majority of states to elect the President

Contingency Election for Vice-President

• Goes to the Senate for a vote

• Two candidates with the most electoral vote compete

• Members vote as individuals rather than states.

Electoral College Criticism

• Faithless Electors – Electors may change their votes– Some state laws do not allow this

• Winner take all system – Gives big states an advantage – Encourages fraud – Enhances power of third party candidates to

split the vote (Green’s and Nader in 2000)

Electoral College Criticism (continued)

• All states get three electoral votes – Gives small states more power relative to their

population

• Uncertainty of the Winner Winning – Winner of the popular vote does not equal

winner of the electoral vote

• Contingency Election Procedures – Deadlock in the House – Increased power of third parties to control

election

Virtues of the Electoral College

• It is a Proven System

• Makes Campaigns More Manageable

• Discourages Election Fraud

• Preserves Moderate Two-Party System