The Presidency II

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The Presidency II

• Lecture 11

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• I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden
  the use of executive power. In other words, I
  acted for the public welfare, I acted for the
  common well-being of all our people, whenever and
  in whatever manner was necessary, unless
  prevented by direct constitutional or legislative
  prohibition
• Theodore Roosevelt
• 26th President of the United States
• 1901-1909

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Expansion of Presidential Power

• Thomas Jefferson
• selectively voided 25 of the 42 judicial
  commissions approved by the Senate (Marbury vs.
  Madison)
• Louisiana Purchase expanded the idea of inherent
  powers
• Inherent powers powers of president derived or
  inferred from Constitution
• Andrew Jackson
• refused to recognize a decision by the United
  States Supreme Court that exempted the Cherokee
  nation from Georgia state law and recognized that
  they had a right to self-government

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Expansion of Presidential Power (cont.)

• Abraham Lincoln
• Civil War
• Habeas corpus was suspended in response to
  demands by generals to set up military courts to
  rein in "copperheads" (those in the Union who
  supported the Confederate cause).
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• The Great Depression
• New Deal and creation of Federal Bureaucracy
• World War II
• Japanese Internment (later approved by Supreme
  Court)

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Expansion of Presidential Power (cont.)

• Harry Truman
• Korean War
• Youngstown Sheet Tube Co. v. Sawyer
• Presidential seizure of the American steel mills
  was unconstitutional
• Richard Nixon
• Staff drafted domestic intelligence strategy that
  included elements such as domestic burglary,
  illegal wiretaps, and the opening of mail of
  domestic radicals
• Not ratified but Nixon still liked the plan
• formed a special White House unit known as "the
  Plumbers
• Watergate

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Expansion of Presidential Power (cont.)

• George W. Bush
• applied the theory of the "unitary executive" in
  a wide range of substantive issues
• Unitary executive the power of Congress to
  divest the President of control of the executive
  branch is limited.
• Signing Statements written proclamation issued
  by the President of the United States upon the
  signing of a bill into law that modifies the
  meaning of the law
• As of October 4, 2006, he has signed 134 signing
  statements challenging 810 federal laws
• Many are attempts to nullify legal restrictions
  on his actions through claims made in the
  statements
• Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) introduced the
  Presidential Signing Statements Act of 2006 on
  July 26, 2006.
• http//thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109s.037
  31

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President as a Policy Maker

• Budget Process
• Securing funds for existing and proposed programs
• Importance of program to president can often be
  inferred by the amount budgeted
• Executive Orders
• There is no United States Constitution provision
  or statute that explicitly permits this, aside
  from the vague grant of "executive power" given
  in Article II
• Presidential Directives are Executive Orders
  given with the advice and consent of the National
  Security Council.

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Presidential Directives

• Kennedy called his presidential directives
  National Security Action Memoranda or NSAMs.
• Lyndon Johnson kept the name during his tenure in
  the White House.
• Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford called their
  presidential directives National Security
  Decision Memoranda or NSDMs.
• Jimmy Carter simply called his orders
  Presidential Directives or PDs.
• Ronald Reagan used the title National Security
  Decision Directives or NSDDs.
• George H. W. Bush called them National Security
  Directives or NSDs.
• Bill Clinton called them Presidential Decision
  Directives or PDDs.
• George W. Bush issues National Security
  Presidential Directives or NSPDs.
• After September 11, 2001, he issued Homeland
  Security Presidential Directives or HSPDs, with
  the consent of the Homeland Security Council. The
  first such directive created the Homeland
  Security Council while the second changed
  immigration policies to combat terrorism.