Presidential Power

PERIOD 5

1. The Constitutional Indeterminacy of the Presidency

• Congress powers are set in stone• Due to vague explanation of duties president

can adapt to the new world• Hard to define limits of his power• The power given to the President is subject to

change with certain circumstances

2. The Precedential Effects of Executive Branch Action

• Former Presidents set examples that may be later used by future Presidents

• The President has suspended laws during a time of crisis in the past

3. The Role of Executive Branch Lawyering

• The executive branch judges itself, which leads to its own interpretations of its powers.

• The President has the power to pick (and fire) Attorney General, the head of the Department of Justice, which advises the President on what is and isn’t legal.

• DOJ decides what is legal and will always say what the President does is legal.

4. The Growth of the Executive Branch

• The president is the top of all the government organizations that enforce laws and therefore, has all the responsibilities belonging to the federal government in his hands.

• Congress has given some of its power to the executive branch in areas such as setting pollution standards.

5. Presidential Access to and Control of Information

• The executive branch has more access to information than any other branch and can do far more with that information at hand

• The president can manipulate congress by keeping certain information from them which in turn could affect their decision on a bill/law/act

• Congress does not have the technology of the CIA or the technical expertise of the military when it comes to determining threats to national security

6. Media and the Presidency

• The medias attention on the President has grown tremendously in the past years, the nation associates government with the image of the President

• The President holds a lot of control over the media and can gain their attention at any point

7. Military and Intelligence Capabilities

• The President is the Commander-in-Chief of our military and is in charge of making any decisions when it comes to them

• The President could abuse this power by using it for his own advantage and gain

• Since he controls the CIA and NSA are so secretive the President can use them to discretely investigate a lot of things

8. The Need for Government to Act Quickly

• Because of the modern world, it is important for the president to make decisions quickly. The warfare available to foreign countries is a lot greater now because of upgrades in technologies. The weapons of war may only take seconds to arrive to our country so the president needs to act fast.

• It will take awhile for congress to look over everything and decide on what to do. Congress is just way too slow compared to what the president can decide.