The Roles and Powers of the President

1. The Presidency
AP UNIT 4 (CONTINUED)

2. Qualifications and
Limitations
• Must be:
– A natural-born citizen
– 35 years old
– Resident of U.S. for 14 years
• 22nd Amendment - puts a two-term limit on
the presidency
• 25th Amendment - provides for the Vice-
President to become president when the
current president is incapacitated

3. Impeachment and
Removal
• Impeachment is an indictment (formal
accusation) of a wrongdoing, NOT
removal
• President can be impeached on
grounds of “treason, bribery, or other
high crimes and misdemeanors”
• Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and
Donald Trump the only presidents to be
impeached

4. • House of Rep. ONLY has the power to
impeach (majority vote)
• Evidence gathered by House then sent
to Senate for trial
– Chief Justice of Supreme Court presides
– 2/3 vote needed to convict
– Conviction = removal from office

5. Roles of the President
• Commander-in-Chief (armed forces)
• Chief Legislator (creator of national/legislative agenda)
• Chief Administrator (leader of Exec. Branch)
• Chief of Party (head of party)
• Chief of State (represents our nation to the world)
• Chief Executive (uses executive powers given by the
Constitution)
• Chief Citizen (representative of common citizens and
model for citizenship)
• Chief Diplomat (negotiates/speaks on behalf of nation)

6. Scope of Powers
• The Framers did not want another king, but
an executive with limitations (by other gov’t
branches)
• Powers of the president have grown
exponentially over time
– Presidential powers have been more widely
interpreted to give presidents more
powers/influence outside Constitution
– More and more has been expected of the
president over time, making the position practically
impossible for a single individual to take on

7. Powers of the President
Formal Powers (Granted
specifically by the Constitution)
• Enforcing laws
• Vetoing bills
• Making treaties and
appointments
• Is Commander-in-Chief of the
armed forces
• Grant pardons and reprieves
• Call Congress into special
session; give State of the Union
• Fill vacancies by recess
appointment
Informal Powers
(interpreted/implied to be held)
• Executive orders
• Executive agreements
• Executive privilege
• Prerogatives
• Moving troops to conflict zones
without declaration of war
• Shaping a legislative agenda
• Signing statements

8. • some presidents felt that powers not
granted were forbidden while others
(like TR) believed that powers not
forbidden were granted (and so
executive powers could be expanded)
• bully pulpit – the president’s use of his
high and visible position to speak out on
issues and guide the agenda of the
American people

9. Executive Powers of the
President
• prerogative - a president’s wide
interpretation (“stretching”) of
presidential powers in order to preserve
the public good
– Can be seen as the president’s
“emergency powers”
– Still subject to restraint by other gov’t
branches

10. • executive privilege - allows president
to withhold information from Congress
or the courts because publicizing the
information would disrupt the running of
the executive branch or injure the public
and/or its safety

11. U.S. v. Nixon (1974)
 In the course of the Watergate investigation, it was
discovered President Nixon recorded all White House
conversations. He was ordered to release the tapes,
but refused, claiming executive privilege.
 Importance of the Case:
SC ruled that in certain circumstances, the president
may use executive privilege for national security,
military, etc. reasons, but not in criminal
investigations (was the court’s call when it was
appropriate)

12. • executive order - decisions/rules of the
president that have the force of law
within the executive branch/bureaucracy
– Enforces powers the president already has
– FDR holds the record at 3,721 executive
orders as president (almost 14,000 total
amongst all presidents)
– are subject to be stricken down by federal
courts as unconstitutional or revoked by
legislation by Congress

13. • appointment power - president appoints
federal judges, Supreme Court justices,
ambassadors, and exec. branch leaders
– Must be approved by the Senate by
majority vote
– Recess appointments president can
temporarily fill vacancies when Senate is
out of session, but it expires at the end of
the Senate’s next session

14. The President and the
Supreme Court
• Above all, nominating SC justices is a very
important legacy for a president to leave
• Presidents generally nominate candidates whose
political ideologies are similar to their own (and
so will uphold the president’s viewpoints/policies)
• SC justices serve for life, much longer than a
president, and so can continue to influence the
interpretation of the law long after the president
is gone

15. Diplomatic Powers of the
President
• Can create treaties (official agreements
with other countries)
– need Senate approval by 2/3 vote
• executive agreement - an agreement
between the president and the leader of
another country
– does not need Senate approval

16. The President and
Congress
• Every president has a legislative agenda (goals
of legislative matters to push through
Congress)
– MUST work Congress to get this done
• Congress is NOT obligated to work with the
President (they are SEPARATE branches and
the President is NOT the boss of Congress)
• Congress generally defers to the president in
matters of foreign policy

17. • President can veto legislation (See
Congress notes), but Congress can
override with 2/3 vote in both chambers
• President must accept or veto bill as a
whole
• line-item veto - allows state governors
(NOT president) to veto parts of a bill
they don’t like

18. Getting the President’s
Agenda Through Congress
• President turns to many sources to
support his legislative agenda
1.) HIS POLITICAL PARTY
• Strong ties between president and party
• members are generally supportive of his
agenda, policies, and ideology

19. • However, president can’t always count
on party (some support declines) --
must mobilize party and its leaders to
act
• Diversity within party and president’s
unpopularity can fracture support for
president

20. • president’s party usually loses seats in
Congress in midterm (non-presidential
year) elections
• presidential coattails – when
members of Congress from the
president’s party use his popularity to
get themselves elected

21. 2.) PUBLIC SUPPORT
• High approval of President: Congress has
more mobilized party members, less
resistance to policies and agenda
• Low approval: party distances themselves,
more resistance to policies and agenda
• electoral mandate - president feels voters
(through an election) have agreed to and
instructed him to get his policies
accomplished

22. 3.) LEGISLATIVE SKILLS
• Bargaining - needed when voting
coalition needs more votes; trading
support on policies or giving out benefits
to those who vote favorably

23. • President takes advantage of high
popularity at the beginning of a term
(“honeymoon phase”) and pushes
policies through Congress
• Competes with Congress’s agenda to
set his administration’s (and often
country’s) agenda

30. Policies, Presidents, and
Congress
• Congress usually defers to president in
matters of foreign policy (easier for
president to make quick decisions than
Congress)
• Two aspects of Congress-president
relationship: domestic policy and foreign
policy (with competing agendas)

31. • In protest, Congress can withhold
support and funding for presidential
policies and military actions, conduct
oversight, and turn public opinion
against president’s goals

32. The President and
National Security
• Leader in protecting the nation and
handling foreign affairs
• Communicates with and tries to
mobilize U.S. allies
• Recognizes countries by appointing and
sending ambassadors to represent U.S.

33. The Commander-in-Chief
• Although Congress declares war, the
president is in charge of the military and
its movements (deploying, moving, and
recalling troops)
– Congress declares war, President
conducts war
• Framers separated these military
responsibilities to spread out power

34. The War Powers Act
(1973)
• passed to return more military influence to
Congress and to check the powers of the
president
• AKA War Powers Resolution
• Stated:
– President must inform Congress within 48 hours of
moving troops and consult with Congress
– Troops can only be stationed for 60 days unless
Congress extends time or declares war
– Congress can end all conflict by passing a
resolution that cannot be vetoed

35. • President expected to be a strong
leader in crisis management (making
critical tough decisions in a short period
of time with limited information)
– Includes wars, international tensions, and
domestic crises

36. Judicial Powers of the
President
• pardon - full forgiveness for an individual
who committed a federal crime
• amnesty - forgiveness for a group of people
who committed a federal crime
• commutation - shortening of a convicted
individual’s sentence or fine
• reprieve - delay of an individual’s sentence

37. The President and the
Public
• Presidents crave and need public support to
get their initiatives accomplished
– Other elements of gov’t (esp. Congress), use
public opinion to gauge their own relationship with
the president
• Presidents often appeal to public through
appearances, speeches, and media events
(and now, social media!)

38. • Presidential approval is often based
upon the public’s perception of how well
the president is doing his job
• Presidential decisions in response to
events and crises define presidential
approval as well (ex: disasters, terrorist
attacks, war, pandemics, etc.)

39. • Presidential efforts to rally public
support are generally ineffective
REASONS:
– The American public is largely apathetic
about gov’t and politics
– People often misinterpret or don’t
understand presidential policies
– People often have a superficial view of the
president

40. The President and the
Media
• Presidents rely on the mass media to
communicate their policies to the
American public
• President followed closely by the media
(is one individual, leader of the country;
unlike Congress, made of many
members and more decentralized)

41. • President and media often conflict in their
goals (president wants to inform, media
wants to sensationalize)
• Media coverage is often short, superficial,
and can distort a president’s image because
of lack of proper analysis or focus
• How the media views the president often
becomes how the public views the president

42. The President and the
Executive Branch
VICE-PRESIDENT
• Very few responsibilities
– 20th Amendment - VP takes over
presidency when president dies
– presides over Senate and breaks ties in
votes
• Can serve as an advisor to the
president as well as a foreign and policy
representative in his stead

43. CABINET
• Advisors of the president that are also the
leaders of the 15 executive departments
(bureaucracy)
• 14 secretaries and 1 attorney general
• chosen by president, approved by Senate
• Can also include VP, national security
advisor, and joint-chiefs of staff
• NOT mentioned in the Constitution

44. Executive Office of the
President (EOP)
• The president’s closest advisors (even closer
than his cabinet)
INCLUDE:
• National Security Council (NSC) - advise on
national security policymaking (incl. VP,
national security advisor, secretaries of state
and defense + other advisors)

45. • Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) - 3
member group that advises president on
state of the economy and resulting
policymaking
• Office of Management and the Budget
(OMB)
– helps the President make the year’s budget
– reviews proposal ideas from exec. depts.
– estimates/advises on budget issues and funding

46. The White House Office
(Staff)
• Part of the EOP
• Conduct the primary day-to-day activities of the
White House (schedules, press activity,
communications, etc.)
• Advise president on a variety of policy matters
• Run the White House to advance the president’s
agenda
• Hired by president (do not need to be approved
by Senate)