POLS 510 ATS US Presidency Congress and Bureaucracy Discussion

1 POLS510 WK1 DISCUSSION2 MY POST Hello Class! I have resided in the U.S. for a few decades, mainly in New York. For the past few years, I relocated to Fort Myers, FL, and find this state’s lifestyle and warm weather excellent. I have an AS in “Accounting” and a B.A. in “Business Management.” I am pursuing a second M.A. degree in Political Science. My first M.A. was in “International Relations and Global Security” with a concentration on “International and Transnational Security Issues.” I am a pastor and currently co-pastoring at “Noah’s Ark Baptist Church” and an adult learner (I’ll be 65 in October next year). This is challenging, but it aims to achieve my personal goals. But I do not expect any job career at this point in life, though I would welcome a position in diplomacy as is my last wish. Anyway, I found studying an exciting task. I believe that these fields of study will provide me with a broader view of the world’s events and a better understanding of global politics and conflicts, especially in these challenging and scary times of international relations that many people assimilate as the beginning of the end. My children are already grown up and on their own, and I live with my lovely wife. Regarding my hobbies, I have a passion for Bible study, which takes much of my spare time, besides my family time. II U.S. Presidency Week 1 Discussion Board Becoming independent from a monarchy colonial power, the United States opted for a democracy, however, not directly governed by the people. The Founding Fathers established a republic with checks and balances safeguarded by the Constitution instead. Generally, the large 2 “C” Constitution says what a president can and cannot do, but several landmark court rulings have shaped what the above words mean in terms of what a president can and cannot do. Still, much of what has affected and expanded presidential powers has come from the men in power themselves (APUS, 2023). In his thesis, Jeffrey Tulis says the Constitution defines the official presidency and spells out the president’s powers and duties. But he does admit that modern changes and higher public standards of presidential leadership have led to an “informal presidency.” This point of view gives us helpful information about current leaders’ difficulties and complicated issues in both areas. Abraham Lincoln clearly shows this duality of the president. During Lincoln’s time in office, he dealt with a crisis that had never been seen before the Civil War. Taking extraordinary steps in this dangerous situation was necessary, so Lincoln gave the president more emergency powers. It included putting political opponents in jail, suspending the constitutional right to habeas corpus, and putting martial rule in some parts of the country. Chief Justice Taney said that Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus was illegal. However, Lincoln ignored this ruling—which was what most people thought—and threatened to jail Taney (APUS, 2023). In times of extreme crisis and with solid support from the people, a president may have to use powers not written in the Constitution. Lincoln was an excellent example of this. That shows how official and informal presidencies worked together. Lincoln was a master at navigating this complicated constitutional landscape, all for the sake of keeping the Union together. Furthermore, Lincoln’s drive to force states to stay in the Union showed how strong he could be and how crucial public opinion was in shaping presidential power. That makes the discussion on power dynamics even more apparent. Up until that point, states thought that 3 secession was a legal move. But Lincoln’s firm stance changed the limits of the president’s power. He told Stephen Douglas in 1858, “Whoever can change public opinion can change the government” (APUS, 2023). This statement sums up his power to change public opinion and, by extension, government acts. Through Lincoln’s presidency, Tulis’s theory powerfully shows in this situation: Even though the Constitution set out the formal requirements for the president’s job, it was the needs of the Civil War and the vast backing that came with it that gave him more power. Tulis makes a good point that this dynamic interaction between formal and informal forces is an excellent example of both the difficulties and complexities that modern presidents face. Jeffrey Tulis’s thesis on formal and informal presidencies is a great way to learn about the complexities of presidential power. Abraham Lincoln’s presidency is an excellent example of how presidents’ actions in times of trouble can be affected by how their constitutional powers and public backing work together. People are still talking about the president’s power and how decisions are made, and this dynamic connection is still relevant. Reference APUS (2023). The U.S. Presidency, Congress, & Bureaucracy (POLS510). Lecture Notes. American Public University. Accessed on 11/08/2023. N.B. In your answers, try to give examples of more recent presidents from FDR and later. The professor was looking for those from earlier years. Thank you. 4 Student #1 (DD) Great to meet you and welcome. It is awesome to see a successful person who is pursuing further education strictly for personal growth. Good luck to you in this course. The primary issue with the constitutional powers of the presidency is that the Founding Fathers did not specify many of the presidential authorities in the Constitution. A few specified authorities include making of treaties, commander in chief, etc., but executive authority is listed as taking care. The primary reason for this lack of specificity was the founders’ inability to predict the future issues and concerns that would face presidents. The understanding within the Constitution is that the executive and the legislative branches would work together to reach consensus on governmental actions and authorities. This lack of specificity of authorities but with an understanding of shared responsibility has led to the small “c” presidential authorities, which are those not specifically granted in the original document. Every incident in history in which a president has asserted executive authority which was not specified, but went unchecked by the legislature, the small “c” authorities have grown. 5 Student #2 (JW) Good day to you Sir. Wow, you are certainly a life-long learned. You have three degrees already and going for a another graduate degree. That is quite the feat. I will be happy to get my first and most likely only graduate degree this spring. I too love Florida. The weather is absolutely beautiful year around, the people for the most part are very sincere and I personally enjoy the politics in Florida over that of New York. Did that have anything to do with you and your wife deciding to move there, or was the Lord calling you to shepherd Noah’s Ark Baptist Church? Great work work on the this week’s forum. President Lincoln is a prime example of the formal and informal presidencies at work. He was a strong man of moral character and strong conviction. He was certainly the man for the job to keep our country together. President Lincoln embraced unilateralism in politics, which one could argue that it led to his great success and title of the nations greatest President. (Burlingame 2023) Again, great work this week. Bibliography Burlingame, Michael. 2023. Abraham Lincoln: Impact and Legacy. Charlottesville, October 23. 6 READING MATERIALS THE U.S. PRESIDENCY, CONGRESS, & BUREAUCRACY Week 1: Formal presidency/ informal presidency Institutional Powers of the Presidency This week, we will focus on the institutional powers of the presidency. “The Two Constitutional Presidencies” What are the powers of a president? What powers did the framers of the Constitution intend for a president to have? Most important, how do the actual powers compare to the intended powers? Jeffrey Tulis, in “Two Constitutional Presidencies,” notes that while the formal design of the president’s powers are outlined in Article II of the Constitution (the formal presidency), modern developments have created an “informal presidency,” with much greater public expectations. He concludes: “Both constitutions were designed to encourage and support an energetic president, but they differ over the legitimate sources and alleged virtues of popular leadership. For the Founders, presidents draw their energy from their authority, which rests on their independent constitutional position. For Woodrow Wilson and for presidents ever since, power and authority are conferred directly by the people.” What is Tulis saying? There are official limits on the power of a president laid out in the Constitution, but what really determines what a president can do is popular support. Large “C” constitutional powers are generally more static than small “c” constitutional powers, because popular opinion is much more fluid and unstable than judicial interpretations of the Constitution. Large “C” Powers Constitutional powers of the president may appear at first to be the most objective and directly stated. However, even these powers can be divided into two categories. First, there’s what the 7 Constitution actually says. Article II, sections 2 and 3 are fairly specific in their expectations of a president: Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment. He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session. Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to 8 such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States. But the first sentence of Section 1 has provided much more judicial wiggle room for interpretation. “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” So there’s what the Constitution actually says, but there’s also what the courts have said it says. Several landmark rulings over the centuries have shaped what the above words mean in terms of what a president can and cannot do according to the large “C” Constitution. However, much of what has affected and expanded presidential powers has come from the men themselves who have been president. Small “c” Powers Court cases don’t file themselves. Whenever the Supreme Court has made a ruling that has expanded presidential powers, it was preceded by a president’s attempt to expand powers. When such attempts reached the Supreme Court, the court then allowed, limited, or disallowed the new power. Such changes in presidential power have happened with many presidents, but there is a handful of presidents known for pushing the boundaries of what a president can do. George Washington Washington’s relationship with the Supreme Court was unique because he chose all members of it. In fact, Washington appointed the entire federal judiciary after Congress created the federal court system. The ability to hand-pick the entire federal judiciary likely contributed to the fact that George Washington had little contention from the Supreme Court. However, it should be noted that the power of judicial review had yet to be established. 9 Washington did begin pushing the boundaries of what a president can do in two very important ways. First, the concept of executive privilege, or rather secrecy of presidential/executive communications, came into existence when Washington refused to turn communications about Jay’s Treaty over to the House of Representatives. Second, Washington’s response to the Whiskey Rebellion laid the groundwork for the president to be able to deploy military forces in times of emergency. Andrew Jackson Jackson was the president who really demonstrated that a president’s powers are determined by what popular opinion will allow, not what the courts or Congress say. In the article, “Studying the Presidency: Why Presidents Need Political Scientists,” Lyn Ragsdale offers interesting generalizations about the presidency, many of which could be applied to Jackson’s tenure. The presidency has two dimensions, which are comparable to the “two constitutions,” image and institution. Public opinion polls show that the public most consistently expects presidents to place the country’s interests ahead of politics, be intelligent, exercise sound judgment in a crisis, take firm stands on issues, get the job done, and be concerned about the average citizen. Early press coverage, which deals with family stories and future policy plans, is more favorable than subsequent press coverage. Short successful wars, sudden international crises, and significant diplomatic efforts temporarily improve the president’s public approval ratings. Jackson had several questionable moves as president, such as his actions over the National Bank even after the Supreme Court ruled it as constitutional in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). But Jackson is known for his lack of enforcement of the 1832 Supreme Court ruling in Worcester v. Georgia, where the Court ruled that removal of the Cherokee Tribe from Georgia was unlawful. 10 Popular opinion nationally and in Georgia was that the Court was wrong. Neither the state of Georgia nor Andrew Jackson enforced the decision, as if it never happened. Jackson was alleged to have said, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!” There’s no strong evidence Jackson actually said this, but his action, or rather inaction, did reflect such a sentiment. Read more about it in this link. Abraham Lincoln Lincoln took extraordinary actions during extraordinary times. What expanded greatly in his administration was the range of emergency powers a president could use. Among these were jailing political opponents, suspending constitutional rights of habeas corpus, and declarations of martial laws in parts of the U.S. Chief Justice Taney ruled that Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus was illegal. Lincoln, with popular support mostly behind him, ignored the ruling and even threatened to put Taney in jail. Most extraordinary was the use of force to coerce states to remain part of the Union. Secession had been considered, until that time, a legitimate action taken by states who no longer wanted to remain in the Union. Ironically, the first states threatening secession were in the north over the War of 1812. None of these actions would have withstood a majority of public opinion siding against Lincoln, and neither would have his 1864 reelection campaign. But Lincoln shaped the government to his ends essentially making good on a statement he made to Stephen Douglas in 1858, “”Whoever can change public opinion can change the government.” Woodrow Wilson Following Teddy Roosevelt’s lead, Wilson appealed directly to American voters to build support for his policies. These included creation of the Federal Reserve and new regulations on businesses. Lasting over a century after his presidency, he made the U.S. a leader on the world 11 stage and openly supported intervention into the affairs of other countries. Enjoying large majorities in both chambers of Congress, Wilson worked on breaking down the legal wall between the presidency and the legislative tasks of Congress. This was a case of small “c” constitutional powers encroaching on large “C” constitutional powers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt By speaking directly to the American people through his “fireside chats” on the radio, Roosevelt strongly established the link between popular support and small “c” constitutional powers. He continued in Wilson’s vein of legislative leadership, pushing bold new federal initiatives. Like Wilson, he enjoyed large Democratic majorities in Congress, yet popular support helped drive his policies and was reflected in unprecedented string of three reelections. A recurring theme that should be noticed is under which conditions a president will most likely have popular support to expand small “c” constitutional powers. That’s when the U.S. was in a state of war, whether it was Jackson and the Indian wars, Lincoln and the Civil War, Wilson and WWI, Roosevelt and WWII, or even George Bush and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 12 https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=865625#goto_toc Presidential Powers Harold J. Krent Framed in Article II of the Constitution, presidential powers are dictated today by judicial as well as historical precedent. To understand the ways the president wields power as well as how this power is kept in check by other branches of government, Harold J. Krent presents three overlapping determinants of the president’s role under the Constitution-the need for presidential initiative in administering the law and providing foreign policy leadership, the importance of maintaining congressional control over policymaking, and the imperative to ensure that the president be accountable to the public. Krent OCOs examination is sweeping, ranging from the president’s ability to appoint and remove executive branch officials to the president’s role in proposing and implementing treaties and the power to conduct war, to the extent the president can refuse to turn over information in response to congressional and judicial requests. Finally, Krent addresses the history and purposes of presidential pardons. By drawing on historic and contemporary presidential actions to illustrate his points, Krent reminds us that the president is both an exalted leader with the regalia of power and an American who is and should be accountable to fellow citizens-important considerations as we elect and assess our president’s.” 13 https://www-proquestcom.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/1792170866?accountid=8289&parentSessionId=g4xetMAUetv c8JqFheMhDas0DUGjbOD5DCnL1I9D%2B7c%3D PRESIDENTIAL POWER, HISTORICAL PRACTICE, AND LEGAL CONSTRAINT Bradley, Curtis A; Morrison, Trevor W. Columbia Law Review; New York Vol. 113, Iss. 4, (May 2013): 1097-1161. Abstract The scope of the President’s legal authority is determined in part by historical practice. This Essay aims to better understand how such practice-based law might operate as a constraint on the presidency. In part because of the limited availability of judicial review in this area, some commentators have suggested that presidential authority has become “unbounded” by law and is now governed only or primarily by politics. At the same time, there has been growing skepticism about the ability of the familiar political checks on presidential power to work in any systematic or reliable fashion. Whether and how practice-based law might constrain the President are thus vital questions. As the Essay explains, no examination of those questions can succeed without careful specification of what legal constraint entails and how it relates to distinct but related phenomena like genuine disagreement about the content of the law. After attempting such specification, the Essay identifies various internal and external causal mechanisms through which law, including practice-based law, could constrain the President. The Essay argues, among other things, that one way that law might operate as a constraint is through the simple fact that issues of presidential power are publicly criticized and defended in legal terms. The Essay concludes by suggesting some avenues of possible empirical research.

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