POLS 3410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Unitary Executive Theory, Bully Pulpit, Executive Privilege
17 May 2018
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03/26/2018 Lecture 13: The Presidency
The Presidet’s Powers
• Expressed powers – powers explicitly granted to the president by the constitution
• Delegated powers – powers that congress passes on to the president
• Inherent powers – powers assumed by presidents, often during a crisis
• Executive privilege – power claimed by the president to resist requests for authority by
congress, the courts, or the public
• Executive agreements – an international agreement made by the president that does not
require the approval of the senate
Is the Presidency Too Powerful?
• Imperial presidency – a characterization of the American presidency that suggests it is
demonstrating imperial traits and that the republic is morphing into an empire
• Unitary executive theory – the idea that the constitution puts the president in charge of
executing the laws and that therefore no other branch may limit presidential discretion over
executive matters
• At the same time the presidency also can seem very weak
o Even under the best circumstances, it is difficult to get major legislation through
ogress eause the presidets etoes a e oerridde, ad ogress retais the
power of impeachment
What Presidents Do
• Commander in chief
o The presidet shall e the Coader-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States and the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the
Uited “tates
o Congress declares war and presidents manage it
• Top diplomat – presidents have the lead role in foreign affairs
• The first legislator
o Recommending measures – each president begins their term with a few legislative
priorities, but many others inevitably arise
o State of the union – an annual event, delivered with great fanfare before Congress,
Supreme Court justices, and a national television audience, this speech announces the
presidets legislatie progra for the ear
o Presidetial batting aerage – we easure eah presidets legislatie suess the
successful passage as a proportion of all the bills the president endorses, of the most
important bills, or of bills that the other party opposes
o Veto power – the presidential power to block an act of Congress by refusing to sign it
▪ Override – the process by which Congress can overcome a presidential veto with
a two-thirds vote in both chamber
▪ Presidents have 10 days to return the legislation to Congress with a message
explaining why he or she has rejected it, if the president does nothing, the bill
becomes law in ten days
▪ Signing statements – these a offer the presidets iterpretatio of the law
(oe soeties at odds ith Cogresss epressed ideas)
• Chief bureaucrat
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