Constitutional Powers of the US President - Term Paper Example

US President: Constitutional power and its Limitations Introduction: Every country in the world has specific political structure. There is not a single country, where the politics is controlled by any single party or any single ideology. In some countries, Prime minister is the ruling individual who used to enjoy all the constitutional, political s well as institutional powers, where as in some countries presidents holds the key. The power sharing among the top leader of the country is not only depends on the constitution of the very country but at the same time it also depends on the person who is on the chair or the party who have the majority of support in the parliaments. In this paper, the main focus is on the predefined constitutional powers of the President in the USA and what are the limitations in the constitutional power of the US President in the modern time. The paper is also focusing on how the US Presidents in the 20th century are using their institutional and political resources to overcome these weaknesses. At the end there is an overview of future balance of power between the US Congress and President. Constitutional powers of the US presidency: Under US constitution, President is the head of the country. Every kinds of decision whether it is political, or constitutional or institutional-all are taken by him or her on behalf of the rest of the elected people. Followings are the set of constitutional power that any US President enjoys during his or her tenure of being President of the country. The executive power is with the President of USA and he or she can be at the helm of power for 4 years in each term. US President is the head of Army and Navy of the country and also of the Local militia of the numerous States in the country. He or she has the power of making new treaties, power to appoint Ambassadors, various other public Ministers and Diplomats, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States. The President has the right to fill up all the vacancies which generally happen at the time of Recess of the Senate. US President has the power to decide on various matters in favors of the country with the consent of both the houses, and even at the time of argument of differences of opinion he or she can adjourn the houses till the time he or she thinks it better to start operation. (Benjamin; 308-310) The president’s expressed powers, as defined by Sections 2 and 3 of Article II fall into several categories. These are Military power; under which President is considered as the head of the military power of the nation. Judicial power; which allows the President of USA to “grant representative and pardons for offenses against the USA” (Benjamin; 311); Diplomatic power which enable him or her to sign or formulate treaties; Executive power; to execute various laws and appoint, remove transfer or replace various government officials; and Legislative process which give the power to take part in various legislative process in the country. Limitations of the Constitutional power: In every country there are some kinds or other form of limitations associated with the constitutional power which is given to the leader of the country. In the USA the top leader of the country is the President and the set of constitutional power that the President of USA has also have a few limitations associated with it. One of the key limitations is that, the US president before taking any decision has to ensure that there is consent about that particular decision in both the houses. Until and unless there is consent among the members of the houses, no matter how important or how effective the decision might be the bill will not be implemented. The Constitution of US is notablyplanned to limit the powers of the president. There are number of restrictions under which the US President has to perform his or her daily routine. The Constitution does not give him or her rights to appoint an ambassador to Nepal, any Cabinet member or a justice of the Supreme Court, without the consent of two-thirds of the Senate. All sorts of presidential actions require the consent of the Senate, and a good many require the approval of both Houses of Congress. So, no matter how much is written there in the constitution that President has the power to remove or appoint government officials across various departments, the matter of fact is he or she must have the support of majority of the elected people in the Senate.(Benjamin, 320) Likewise, there are various kinds of boundaries levied on presidential power by the political route itself in the USA. Even if a president owns the unquestionable influence to take a specific step toward any kind of change in the economic or social agenda, it can be so unpopular that he or she may have to withdraw that particular plan. Along with the legislative obligation, he or she has to face the resistance from his or her own party, the Supreme Court, the Congress or from Senate. One the great example of the political pressure on the US President is of Roosevelt. It is without a doubt that, Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most effective, popular president of the USA in the 20th century. But he, during his stay at the top has some differences of opinion with the Supreme Court of the nation. Due to those differences as well as public outrage he also forced to withdraw some of his great ‘reform’ decision which might in long run boost the economy of the nation. So from the above analysis , it is very clear that the US President despite having the power of leadership or leading all the government operation of the nation have to rely on the senate as well as Congress and also on the mindset of the people to ensure that all the bills or the projects or reforms are implemented accordingly. Being the leader of the nation he or she cannot impose any decision alone or implemented any idea on his or her own. How to Overcome These Limitations by using the Political and Institutional power Despite having number of limitations in terms of constitutional powers, most of the US President of the 20th century able to overcome the obstacle by using their institutional and political power. Every Presidents of the country are either from the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. It has often been noticed that before coming into the power the individual used to propose some of his or her key agendas in front the senate or the people of the nations. Those are designed in collaboration with the ideology of the party he or she is representing. To overcome the constitutional limitations, Presidents of the modern time are now using their institutional powers as well as their party philosophy effectively. One of the key points associated with overcoming the limitations of the constitutional rights is the role played by the Congress. In recent times, there are number of laws which have given the US president and the executive benches more power to take decisions are not constitutional but more or less product of “congressional statutes (laws) and resolutions”.(Benjamin, 317) As a matter of fact, with the increasing number of responsibility, it is more or less impossible for Congress to take a note of every bill, every law or every step before allowing it to implement. To make the operation more easily, the Congress has created number of executive benches and departments who under the guidance of Congress will implement all those necessary work. Like in 2002, after the 9/11 incident, to make the internal security more strengthen the Congress has pass the law to develop a department of homeland security who will ensure that all required laws and legislations associated with internal securities are in place and in order. Generally the political party who has the majority in the Congress as well as in the senate can easily pass those bills which can increase the power of the President. Another key point of the US Politics is lesser power of the cabinet. In countries like UK, Cabinet is the ruling group who generally take all the decisions, but in the USA, cabinets do not have any kind of power. The members of the Cabinet are being selected by the President after getting approval from the Senate but the members are answerable to neither the Senate nor the Congress as they are under direct leadership of the US President. This is another limitation that the US President has to overcome by using his or her political and institutional power. To overcome this obstacle, the role played by the White House Staffs is most important. It has been mentioned that the White house Staffs are the eyes and ears of the US President as theyaremore close to the President and very often before taking any kind of decision the US President often reply on the feedback or ideas of this group of people. The decisions or suggestions of this group are more timely and constructive as well as more political in nature in comparison to those coming from the Cabinet or the Senate. (Benjamin, 316-319). To overcome the limitations of the constitutional obligations following are the few institutional steps that the US Presidents have taken over the course of time. One of the key institutional steps is the formation of Executive Office of the President (EOP). It is a group of highly skilled individual who used to do all kinds of management staffs for the president. Among various EOP, the most important, key EOP is the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)-a group who are responsible for designing national budget, design the President’s program and review work of other agencies. To give more power to the President, the post of Vice President was developed in the US politics. The post has two key responsibilities: take the place of the President in any unfortunate or extreme circumstances and act as a tie-breaker person if there was a tie in Senate over implementation of any bill or passing any law amendment or reform. The Vice President is nothing but a political resource for the president. (Benjamin, 320-321) Conclusion: It is very clear that , in Us Politics President must have a majority to enjoy supreme control over the Senate and the Congress or must have very good tactical mind to use all the institutional and political ways to overcome various constitutional drawbacks or limitations which are there on President’s Role. In 20th century, any President must follow any one of the following three ways to establish his or her authority over Senate and Congress: with the help of his or her party, with the help of popular mobilization or by proper administration. In recent years, Us Presidents are looking for creating mass support in favors of them by going and communicating with the public. In recent time, to maintain a proper balance between the Congresses, Senate, both the Houses and the office of US president there has to be a balance in the act of all the parties. EOP can play a major role in this. With their effective decision-making in consideration with Congress and Senate can bring done the differences of opinions among both the houses, regular reviews of the existing policies can help them to figure out the loopholes of the past and work accordingly, and at the same time can increase or create an ambiance of trust among the Congress member and other Senate members. It has to be noted that all the policies, legislations, bills have to be approved by the Congress and Senates before it can be implemented so a proper understanding among the members can be very helpful not only for a better government but also for a balanced policy making as well as equal distribution of power among the President, Senate and the congress. Reference: Ginsberg, Benjamin; et.al. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics. 2003. W. W. Norton & Company. Print. Read More