Introduction to American Legal System. The Presidency of the United States of America

Transcription

1 Introduction to American Legal System The Presidency of the United States of America

2 President of the USA The most powerful office in the world Although the Constitution established the Congress as the first branch of the government, the presidency has come to the center point of American system over the course of 200 years

3 US Constitution Article II of the US Constitution: Clause 1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers (the other being the vice president of the United States)

4 Article I legislative role The legislative power of the presidential veto. The Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options: 1. Sign the legislation; the bill then becomes law. 2. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections; the bill does not become law, unless each House of Congress votes to override the veto by a two-thirds vote. 3. Take no action. In this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation. After 10 days, not counting Sundays, two possible outcomes emerge: 1. If Congress is still convened, the bill becomes law. 2. If Congress has adjourned, thus preventing the return of the legislation, the bill does not become law. This latter outcome is known as the pocket veto.

5 Article II Among other powers and responsibilities, Article II of the U.S. Constitution: charges the president to "faithfully execute" federal law, makes the president commander-in-chief of the United States armed forces, allows the president to nominate executive and judicial officers with the advice and consent of the Senate, allows the president to grant pardons and reprieves.

6 War and foreign affairs powers Perhaps the most important of all presidential powers is command of the United States armed forces as commander-in-chief. While the power to declare war is constitutionally vested in Congress, the president commands and directs the military and is responsible for planning military strategy Congress, pursuant to the War Powers Resolution, must authorize any troop deployments more than 60 days in length. Additionally, Congress provides a check to presidential military power through its control over military spending and regulation.

7 Foreign Policy The president also directs U.S. foreign policy. Through the Department of State and the Department of Defense, the president is responsible for the protection of Americans abroad and of foreign nationals in the United States. The president decides whether to recognize new nations and new governments, and negotiates treaties with other nations, which become binding on the United States when approved by two-thirds vote of the Senate.

8 Administrative powers The president is the chief executive of the United States, putting him at the head of the executive branch of the government, whose responsibility is to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." To carry out this duty, the president is given control of the four million employees of the federal executive branch.

9 Administrative powers A numerous variety of executive branch appointments are made by presidents. Up to 6,000 appointments may be made by an incoming president before he takes office and 8,000 more may be made while in office. Ambassadors, members of the Cabinet, and other federal officers, are all appointed by a president with the "advice and consent" of a majority of the Senate. Appointments made while the Senate is in recess are temporary and expire at the end of the next session of the Senate.

10 Administrative powers The power of a president to fire executive officials has long been a contentious political issue. Generally, a president may remove purely executive officials at his discretion. However, Congress can curtail and constrain a president's authority to fire commissioners of independent regulatory agencies and certain inferior executive officers by statute.

11 Administrative powers The president possesses the ability to direct much of the executive branch through executive orders. To the extent the orders are grounded in federal statute or executive power granted in the U.S. Constitution, these orders have the force of law. Thus, executive orders are reviewable by federal courts or can be rendered null through legislative changes to statute.

12 Juridical powers The president also has the power to nominate federal judges, including members of the United States courts of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States These nominations do require Senate confirmation and this can provide a major block for presidents who wish to orient the federal judiciary toward a particular ideological stance. However, when nominating judges to U.S. district courts, presidents often practice the long-standing tradition of Senatorial courtesy. Presidents may also grant pardons as is often done just before the end of a presidential term.

13 Juridical powers Executive privilege gives a president the ability to withhold information from Congress and federal courts in matters of national security. George Washington first claimed privilege when Congress requested to see Chief Justice John Jay's notes from an unpopular treaty negotiation with Great Britain. While not enshrined in the Constitution, or any other law, Washington's action created the precedent for the privilege.

14 Juridical powers When Richard Nixon tried to use executive privilege as a reason for not turning over subpoenaed evidence to Congress during the Watergate scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), that executive privilege did not apply in cases where a president was attempting to avoid criminal prosecution. When President Bill Clinton attempted to use executive privilege regarding the Lewinsky scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997), that the privilege also could not be used in civil suits. These cases established the legal precedent that executive privilege is valid although the exact extent of the privilege has yet to be clearly defined.

15 Legislative facilitator While the president cannot directly introduce legislation, he can play an important role in shaping it, especially if a president's political party has a majority in one or both houses of the Congress. While executive branch officials are prohibited from simultaneously holding seats in the Congress, and vice versa, those executive officials often draft legislation and rely upon Senators and Representatives to introduce it for them. The president can further influence the legislative branch through constitutionally-mandated, periodic reports to Congress. These reports may be either written or oral, but in modern times are given as the State of the Union address, which often outlines the president's legislative proposals for the coming year.

16 Selection process: Eligibility Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets the principal qualifications one must meet to be eligible to the office of president. A president must: 1. be a natural born citizen of the United States; 2. be at least 35 years old; 3. have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least 14 years.

17 Selection process: Eligibility A person who meets the above qualifications is still disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions: 1. Under the Twenty-second Amendment, no eligible person can be elected president more than twice. The Twenty-second Amendment also specifies that if any eligible person who serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, then the former can only be elected president once.

18 Selection process: Eligibility 2. Under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, the Senate has the option, upon conviction, of disqualifying convicted individuals from holding other federal offices, including the Presidency. 3. Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Constitution prohibits an otherwise eligible person from becoming president if that person swore an oath to support the Constitution, and later rebelled against the United States. However, the Congress, by a two-thirds vote of each house, can remove the disqualification.

19 Campaigns and nomination The modern presidential campaign begins before the primary elections, which the two major political parties use to clear the field of candidates in advance of their national nominating conventions, where the most successful candidate is made the party's nominee for president. Typically, the party's presidential candidate chooses a vice presidential nominee, and this choice is rubber-stamped by the convention.

20 Elections Presidents are elected indirectly in the United States. A number of electors, collectively known as the Electoral College, officially select the president. On Election Day, voters in each of the states and the District of Columbia cast ballots for these electors. These electors in turn will vote for that candidate in the Electoral College

21 Elections The Electoral College system was devised for two reasons: 1. The Framers of the Constitution had feared direct democracy (believed that a college of dispassionate citizens were better suited than masses to select a president) 2. They wanted to protect the interests of smaller states and rural areas

22 Elections The Electoral College is composed of 538 members equivalent to 100 senators, 435 House members, and 3 representatives from D.C. Each state s number of electors equals their number of representatives and senators: California has the most: 54 New York: 33 Texas: 32 Florida: 25 Pennsylvania: 23 Except for Maine and Nebraska, the Electoral College is a winner-take-all system: whoever carries the state receives all of the state s Electoral College votes.

23 Elections: Call for Reform? In 2000, President George W. Bush lost the popular vote by half million votes. The magic number is 270 electoral votes The 25 electoral votes in Florida gave him a total of 271 to Al Gore s 267 There was some discussion about eliminating the Electoral College and replacing it with direct voting Were that to happen, chances are the candidates would focus on large population centers such as NYC, California, Florida and Texas, and ignore the interests of rural and sparsely populated areas.

24 Elections: Call for Reform? In 1977, President Jimmy Carter proposed a constitutional amendment that would do just that, but the amendment failed to win twothirds majority in the Senate. Four times has a president been elected w/o winning the popular vote: 1. John Adams: Rutherford B. Heyes: Benjamin Harrison: George W. Bush: 2000

25 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Barack Obama 44th President of the United States Full name: Barack Hussein Obama Age/DOB: 51; Born August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii Home: Chicago, Illinois

26 President Obama, the nation's 44th president, is seeking a second term in office. The Democrat's rise to power was historic, making him the first African-American president. In 2008, he defeated Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton's powerful primary campaign and surged ahead of Republican Sen. John McCain in the general election. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and later became a community organizer in Chicago. He attended Harvard Law School in 1991 and became the first-african American president of the school's law review. Afterward, he became a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama ran for the Illinois state Senate in 1996 and served from It was in 2004 that Obama set his sights on Washington, running for and winning Illinois' U.S. Senate seat. He would serve only four years of his sixyear term, resigning to run for president in Author and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, he is married to Michelle (Robinson) Obama. The couple has two daughters, Malia and Natasha (Sasha).

27 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Barack Obama Campaign Finance: Total Raised, year to date: $632,177, Total Spent: $540,812, Cash on Hand: $93,667, Debt: $5,472, As of October 2012

28 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES He Said What? Now, he can focus on more important matters like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac? -- Obama joking about Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner on May 1, 2011

29 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Where Obama Stands: Economy: Perhaps the issue that will make or break his re-election campaign is the economy and his handling of what many call the Great Recession. Hammered by Republicans who say that he is steering the country in the wrong direction and that his policies haven't worked, Obama made a series of reforms to crack down on Wall Street practices and instituted programs to help small-business owners and consumers. His stimulus plan, which temporarily helped boost the economy, has failed to significantly drop the record-high unemployment rate of 9.1%. Obama, who came into office facing the fiscal crisis, says economic recovery will need years to fully kick in. That's why, his campaign says, he needs to be re-elected.

30 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Where Obama Stands: Health care the top of the list of Obama s accomplishments. Despite facing heavy opposition by congressional Republicans, Democrats were able to pass the Affordable Health Care Act in March 2010 a sweeping set of reforms aimed to help more Americans get insured. Perhaps Obama s biggest victory and biggest future challenge in the election came when the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act s individual mandate was constitutional, not as a penalty, but a tax.

31 Elections 2012: Vice Presidents Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States Full name: Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., Age/DOB: 69; Born November 20, 1942 in Scranton, Pennsylvania Home: Wilmington, Delaware

32 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Mitt Romney Former Governor of Massachusetts About Romney Full name: Willard M. "Mitt" Romney Age/DOB: 65; Born March 12, 1947 in Detroit, MI Home: Boston, Mass.

33 Mitt Romney A former businessman and governor, Mitt Romney's 2012 White House bid is his second attempt to win the Oval Office. During the 2008 election cycle, Romney lost the Republican nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain. But after that loss, Romney maintained an active national political organization. In June 2011, he formally launched his 2012 campaign. Romney, who is Mormon, graduated from Brigham Young University in 1971 and then earned dual degrees from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He helped found Bain Capital, an investment firm that bought and sold companies after turning them around. Romney also helped organize and run the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Romney is wealthy, with assets for him and his wife, Ann, worth an estimated $190 million to $250 million, according to 2011 documents released by his campaign. A separate financial disclosure form filed with the Federal Election Commission around the same time stated that Romney's assets could be worth as much as $264 million. The Romneys, who married in 1969, have five sons and 16 grandchildren. Politics runs in Romney's family; his father, George, was governor of Michigan.

34 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Mitt Romney Campaign Finance: Total Raised, year to date: $389,088, Total Spent: $336,399, Cash on Hand: $52,702, Debt: $3,000,000.00

35 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES I am also unemployed...i'm networking. I have my sights on a particular job that I'm working for. -- Mitt Romney, speaking to a group of unemployed Floridians, 6/16/11

36 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Where Romney Stands: The Economy: On the campaign trail, Romney frequently promotes his mix of experience in the public and private sectors. Romney has also expressed support for the "cut, cap and balance" approach to reducing federal deficit spending that has been championed by tea party activists and some conservative lawmakers in Congress.

37 Elections 2012: CANDIDATES Where Romney Stands: Health Care Says if elected, he will work to repeal the Affordable Care law, which he also calls Obamacare. But, as Massachusetts governor, Romney signed a health care bill into law that penalized Massachusetts citizens for not having health insurance similar to the federal provision but applied at the state level. At the time, Romney said the purpose of Romneycare was to provide, Every citizen with affordable, comprehensive health insurance and, finally -- beginning to reign in health care inflation. Romney says that the president s health care plan is an example of Washington overstepping its boundaries because it places a mandate on 100% of Americans. Instead, because his Massachusetts plan was limited to the states, it is better tailored to the people of Massachusetts. Following the Supreme Court ruling on health care this year, Romney renewed his pledge to overturn Obama s health care plan, calling it the biggest tax increase in U.S. history a point that Factcheck.org, an independent website dismisses.

38 Elections 2012: Vice Presidents Paul Ryan, Congressman from Wisconsin's 1st district Full name: Paul Davis Ryan Age/DOB: 42; Born January 29, 1970 in Janesville, Wisconsin Home: Janesville, Wisconsin

39 Elections 2012: Results Candidates need 270 electoral votes to win the presidency Obama: 332 Electoral Votes, 51%: 62,615,406 votes Romney: 206 Electoral Votes, 48%: 59,142,004 votes Cnn.com, 9:08 a.m. ET, Nov 20

40 Oath Pursuant to the Twentieth Amendment, the president's term of office begins at noon on January 20 of the year following the election. This date, known as Inauguration Day, marks the beginning of the four-year terms of both the president and the vice president. Before executing the powers of the office, a president is constitutionally required to take the presidential oath: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States Although not required, presidents have traditionally used a Bible to take oath of office and suffixed "So help me God!" to the end of the oath. Further, though no law requires that the oath of office be administered by any specific person, presidents are traditionally sworn in by the Chief Justice of the United States.

41 Oath In 2009, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, while administering the oath to Barack Obama, incorrectly recited part of the oath. Roberts prompted, "That I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully." Obama stopped at "execute," and waited for Roberts to correct himself. Roberts, after a false start, then followed Obama's "execute" with "faithfully", which results in "execute faithfully", which is also incorrect. Obama then repeated Roberts' initial, incorrect prompt, with the word "faithfully" after "United States The oath was re-administered the next day by Roberts at the White House.

42 Tenure and term limits The term of office for president and vice president is four years. George Washington, the first president, set an unofficial precedent of serving only two terms, which subsequent presidents followed until Before Franklin D. Roosevelt, attempts at a third term were encouraged by supporters of Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt; neither of these attempts succeeded, however. In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt declined to seek a third term, but allowed his political party to "draft" him as their presidential candidate and was subsequently elected to a third term. In 1941, the U.S. became involved in World War II, which later led voters to elect Roosevelt to a fourth term in 1944.

43 Tenure and term limits After the war, and in response to Roosevelt's shattering of precedent, the Twenty-second Amendment was ratified: barring anyone from being elected president more than twice, or once if that person served more than half of another president's term.

44 Tenure and term limits Since the amendment's ratification, four presidents have served two full terms: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton George W. Bush. Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush sought a second term, but were defeated. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, but resigned before completing it. Lyndon B. Johnson was the only president under the amendment to be eligible to serve more than two terms in total, having served for only fourteen months following John F. Kennedy's assassination. However, Johnson withdrew from the 1968 Democratic Primary, surprising many Americans by stating 'I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president'. Gerald Ford sought a full term, after serving out the last two years and five months of Nixon's second term, but was not elected.

45 Vacancy or disability Vacancies in the office of president may arise under several possible circumstances: 1. death 2. resignation 3. removal from office Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution allows the House of Representatives to impeach high federal officials, including the president, for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 gives the Senate the power to remove impeached officials from office, given a two-thirds vote to convict. Two presidents have thus far been impeached by the House, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in Neither was subsequently convicted by the Senate; however, Johnson was acquitted by just one vote.

46 Vacancy or disability Under Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the president may transfer the presidential powers and duties to the vice president, who then becomes acting president, by transmitting a statement to the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate stating the reasons for the transfer. The president resumes the discharge of the presidential powers and duties when he transmits, to those two officials, a written declaration stating that resumption. This transfer of power may occur for any reason the president considers appropriate: in 2002 and again in 2007, President George W. Bush briefly transferred presidential authority to Vice President Dick Cheney. In both cases, this was done to accommodate a medical procedure which required Bush to be sedated; Bush returned to duty later the same day.

47 Vacancy or disability Under Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet may transfer the presidential powers and duties from the president to the vice president once they transmit to the Speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate a statement declaring the president's incapacity to discharge the presidential powers and duties. If this occurs, then the vice president will assume the presidential powers and duties as acting president; However, the president can declare that no such inability exists and resume the discharge of the presidential powers and duties. If the vice president and cabinet contest this claim, it is up to Congress, which must meet within two days if not already in session, to decide the merit of the claim.

48 Vacancy or disability The United States Constitution mentions the resignation of the president but does not regulate the form of such a resignation or the conditions for its validity. By Act of Congress, the only valid evidence of the president's decision to resign is a written instrument declaring the resignation signed by the president and delivered to the office of the Secretary of State. On August 9, 1974, facing likely impeachment in the midst of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the only president ever to resign from office. Just before his resignation, the House Judiciary Committee had reported favorably on articles of impeachment against him.

49 Vacancy or disability The Constitution states that the vice president becomes president upon the removal from office, death or resignation of the preceding president. If the offices of president and vice president both are either vacant or have a disabled holder of that office, the next officer in the presidential line of succession, the Speaker of the House, becomes acting president. The line extends to the president pro tempore of the Senate after the speaker, followed by every member of the cabinet in a set order.

50 The First Lady Although there is no mention of the role of first lady in the Constitution, it has developed into an important position in American government. Whereas first ladies were once confided to simply setting the social calendar and hosting White House receptions, today they work on issues of public policy advance agendas based on their own interests.

51 The First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy devoted herself to restoring the White House and establishing the White House Historical Association Lady Bird Johnson continued Jacqueline Kennedy s work, creating the First Ladies Commission for a More Beautiful Capital Pat Nixon enhanced the White House art collection Betty Ford was closely identified with her fight against drug and alcohol abuse, and founded the Betty Ford Clinic.

52 The First Lady Rosalynn Carter worked with the mentally ill, and served as the honorary chairwoman of the President s Commission on Mental Health Nancy Reagan started the Just Say No campaign, and anti-drug and anti-alcohol program targeted to young Americans Barbara Bush focused on adult literacy and eldery care Hillary Rodham Clinton took active role in public policy, serving as chairwoman of the National Commission on Health Care Reform. She was also an advocate for children, and author of the bestselling book It Takes a Village Laura Bush, like her mother-in-law, has promoted literacy. She also played an important role in comforting parents and children across the country in the weeks and months following the terrorist attacks of Sept.11

53 The First Lady Michelle Obama: Michelle Robinson was born and grew up in Chicago. She graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Known for her style and fashion sense, in July 2007 was listed by Vanity Fair among "10 of the World's Best Dressed People.

54 The First Lady During her early months as First Lady, she has frequently visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens. She has also sent representatives to schools and advocated public service. She has began advocating on behalf of military families. Like her predecessors Clinton and Bush, who supported the organic movement by instructing the White House kitchens to buy organic food, Obama has received attention by planting an organic garden and installing bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House, which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and forr state dinners and other official gatherings