Formal Powers

• Head of State + Gov

• article 2 section 1: constitutional right

• oversees 15 Cabinet depts + EXOP

• appoints approx 3000 federal posts

  • ambassadors, Cabinet, agencies, commissions + judges require Senate confirmation → Congress has more power?

• ‘serve at the president’s pleasure’ → argument for his power + extent e.g. appoints Commander in Chief → therefore more able to declare war than Congress? e.g. Obama Libya airstrikes

Informal Powers

• electoral mandate

  • 1st 100 days

  • outweighed by Congress + party control

Presidential Mandates + Issues

• Bush

  • Iraq + afghanistan War on Terror

  • 9/11

  • Katarina

  • 2008 crash

• Obama

  • ACA

  • Budget Crisis

  • bin Laden

  • 2013 shutdown

  • gun legislation (Sandy Hook)

• Trump

  • wall + immigration

  • Russia connections + Comey firing

  • trillion dollar infrastructure plan

  • repeal ACA

• Biden

  • immigration reversal

  • Covid response: American Rescue Plan 2021

  • economic stimulus + climate change (Inflation Reduction Act 2022)

  • bipartisan infrastructure bill: Infrastructure Investment + Jobs Act 2021

  • CHIPS Act: high tech manufacturing in-country

  • gun control bill ending boyfriend loophole

  • student loan forgiveness

  • ending Afghanistan + PACT Act for Veterans

• executive orders

  • often based on Act of Congress e.g. White House Council on Native American Affairs

  • limits of falling inside exec remit, being scrutinised by court + public

  • Muslim Ban → court changed wording

• national events

  • symbolic + linked to support e.g. Bush 9/11 v Katarina

  • can blow policy plans off course e.g. Obama ACA

• cabinet

  • key policy advisors e.g. Cab Depts, VP

  • influential inner circle e.g. VP Biden ‘last guy in the room’ + drafted gun leg for Obama

  • Trump Immigration ban = divided cabinet; Sally Yates AG dismissed + key Depts not consulted

• persuasion

  • Trump aggression v Obama conciliation

  • would Obama have been more effective in a Prime Ministerial role?

    • would be less constrained by Congress → leader of the largest party

    • presidential PMs = most transformative leaders

West Wing

• lead advisors in West Wing, alongside VP + Cabinet

• key agencies: OMB, NSC + WHO

• v powerful yet not many appointed by Senate

• Roles

  • Policy advice

  • Manage P (Chief of Staff ‘lightning conductor’)

  • oversee depts

  • relations w Congress (Office for Legislative Affairs)

  • specialist functions

NSC

• important council in close proximity to Oval Office

• daily briefings from NSA → at odds w Sec State

• Bannon appt = politicisation 2017

OMB

• head confirmed by senate → const power to control purse of America

• annual budget + dept spending

• vital role for P power + macro econ

WHO

• chief of staff gatekeeper

• Biden’s: Ron Klein, now Jeff Zientes

• spokes on a wheel: Clinton, less efficient, overseeing everything

• pyramid

Comparative Power

EXOP most powerful

• VP

  • only const role is to be next in line

  • use determined by P

  • Biden is an opposing argument

• Cabinet

  • no const role

  • limited collective power

  • individual advisors determined by P

  • John Kerry = opposing argument

• EXOP

  • mostly P appointed

  • manage P schedule → influence

  • oversee dept spending → limitation on Cabinet

US Presidency

Relationships between p + Congress

• separation of powers

  • separate mandates (active) → Congress renews more frequently

  • no patronage

  • divided gov = conflicting agendas

• agenda + legislation

  • P = driving force + ‘chief legislator’

    • veto

    • sign

    • speak

    • meet

  • national mandate e.g. Trump’s tv campaigning ensured policies were debated in Congress

  • C = only leg body w/ mandate

  • opposing C can set own agenda under a powerful speaker

    • Obama pressured by John Boehner midterm speaker to concede cuts due to gov shutdown over budget disagreements

    • similarly immigration package not debated

  • power to amend solely Congressional

• votes + vetoes

  • P elected by ECV → less representative? e.g. Clinton lost out despite winning popular vote

  • P can veto bills → defeated by a supermajority

Overall, while the P is the figurehead and a key influential figure, the powers of Congress as a whole place strict limits on his power. He cannot amend legislation, and although he has the power to propose it, Congress has increasingly become more powerful due to the polarisation of politics and their ability to play on polling that reflects on the President personally. While the President has more short term power in terms of military

P-SCOTUS Relationship

• power to appoint → long term impact

• little power following appointment

• again Congress can override P e.g. Merrick Garland nom could have tipped ideological balance + was rejected due to ‘proximity to election’

• verbal check on SCOTUS e.g. Obama criticism of Citizens United Ruling in State of the Union

• Biden’s EO following Dobbs protecting access to reproductive rights

• can’t do more + called on Congress to pass a fed. law

  • SCOTUS could overrule that w/ judicial review

• extremely powerful institution

Changes in P power

• events

• popularity

• midterms

• cycles + lame duck

Brown Notes:

• look at relationships + limitations (imperial v imperilled)

• president v federalism - both presidency + constitution