Government systems and structures

Government

To allow him or her to not only create but also implement public policy, the United States Constitution grants the U.S. president numerous powers. In this text, I concern myself with the various powers granted to the United States President by the Constitution. These powers grant the United States president the ability to effectively manage not only the nation's national affairs but also the workings of the government at the federal level.

Powers of the U.S. President

According to Sidlow and Henschen (2010), "the constitutional source for the president's authority is found in Article II of the constitution." Further, this article sets fourth the duties as well as the responsibilities of an elected American president. One of the powers granted to the president by the Constitution is the power of clemency. In this case, the president has not only the power to reprieve but also the power to pardon (Vile, 2010). It is however important to note that the power to pardon does have some specific limitations. For instance, the president's power to pardon according to Vile (2010), "neither extends to offenses against individual states nor allows the president to intervene in civil suits." The power to reprieve and to pardon has been exercised by U.S. presidents on numerous occasions in the past. For instance, President Jimmy Carter exercised his power to reprieve and to pardon as provided for in the constitution by extending amnesty "to Vietnam-era draft evaders" (Vile, 2010).

Secondly, the constitution grants the president the power to appoint. The president according to Sidlow and Henschen (2010) can "appoint, with the Senate's consent, the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, justices of the Supreme court, and other top officials." Other officials the president has powers to appoint include but they are not in any way limited to the White House Staff. Those individuals appointed by the president play a critical role in the implementation of public policy. In the opinion of Vile (2010), the presidential power to appoint remains one of the most important powers vested on the presidency by the constitution. This is more so the case when it comes to the appointment of the judicial branch members. However, as Vile (2010) notes, the powers of the president to appoint constitutional office holders creates a "political" dimension in most of the appointments. It is however important to note that in this case, there exists various checks and balances to ensure that the president does not overstep his mandate in the making of appointments. Indeed, the senate has in the past rejected presidential nominees for various reasons (Vile, 2010).

Next, the president according to Sidlow and Henschen (2010) has powers "to make treaties, with the advice and consent of the senate." It is however important to note that there exists scenarios that do not require the approval of senate for the president to enter into some special agreements with foreign governments. These kinds of agreements according to Vile (2010) are referred to as executive agreements. In the opinion of the author, the validity of executive agreements has been upheld by the Supreme Court on several occasions. An example of the presidential power to make executive agreements can be seen in Dames & Moore v. Regan (1981). In this particular case, Vile (2010) points out that an agreement between president Reagan and Iran was upheld or validated by the court. This according to the author effectively ratified an order that had been issued earlier on by President Carter freezing Iranian assets.

Apart from the various powers of the U.S. President that I highlight above, it can also be noted that the holder of this important office also does have other powers not mentioned herein. While presidential powers are largely constitutional, there are other powers of the president not expressly outlined in the Constitution. These powers according to Schmidt, Shelley and Bardes (2012) are referred to as inherent powers. Such powers have also been exercised by presidents in the past. For instance, President Roosevelt according to Schmidt, Shelley and Bardes (2012) "used his inherent powers to move the Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the United States into internment camps for the duration of World War II."