• When the Founding fathers created the new American Government, the separation of powers and a series of checks & balances were written into the Constitution so that no one group or person became too powerful.

THE SEPARATION OF POWERSThe Government has 3 functions:1. LEGISLATIVE – To make laws. These have to

be passed by both houses in Congress and the President.

2. EXECUTIVE – To carry out laws. This is done by the State Departments. The President appoints the Secretary of State for each Department.

3. JUDICIAL – To make judgments according to the laws. The Supreme Court decides if new laws are acceptable according to the Constitution.

• U.S. Government Diagram - clickable

• BBC NEWS

The US Constitution contains a series of checks & balances to ensure the separation of powers. These include:

• The Federal Government can only increase its power by changing the Constitution. To do this it needs 2/3 of both houses and the President to agree. Then it needs ¾ of the State Assemblies to agree.

CHECKS & BALANCES

• The President can propose changes to the law but cannot introduce new Bills into Congress himself. He needs to find a Representative to do this for him.

CHECKS & BALANCES

• Congress can pass new laws but the President must sign them. He can refuse and use his power of Veto. Congress can still pass the law but 2/3 of both Houses have to agree which is very difficult.

CHECKS & BALANCES

• Sometimes a president decides to do nothing. He may decide neither to sign nor veto a bill.

• Pocket veto - The constitution requires that a bill is signed by the President within 10 days. If he does not sign and Congress is in session then the Bill becomes law without his signature.

• However, if Congress is not in session then the Bill fails to pass and the President has exercised his pocket veto.

PRESIDENT REGULAR VETOES

POCKET VETOES

TOTAL VETOES

VETOES OVERRIDDEN

% VETOES OVERRIDDEN

% REGULAR VETOES OVERRIDDEN

BARACK OBAMA

2 0 2 0 0% 0%

BILL CLINTON1993-2001

36 1 37 2 5% 6%

GEORGE W BUSH2001-2008

11 1 12 4 33% 36%

ANDREW JOHNSON1865-69

21 8 29 15 52% 71%

HARRY TRUMAN1945-53

180 70 250 12 5% 7%

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT1901-1909

372 263 635 9 1% 2%

GEORGE H W BUSH1989-1993

29 15 44 1 2% 2%

VETO

• In 2001-2005 Bush was the first President since 1841 to get through an entire 4 year term without using a veto.

• His first veto was in July 2006 – Stem cell Research enhancement act.

• Veto Override Failed in the House (235–193).

The system of election.

1. The President is elected for 4 years but can only serve a maximum of 2 terms – 8 years.

2. Congress members are elected for 2 year terms.3. Senators are elected for 6 year terms but the elections

are staggered so that 1/3 of Senators are being elected every 2 years.

Therefore if the voters do not like what the

President is doing, within 2 years they can

elect representatives to check his powers.

| No individual can become President for life and gather more and more power.

CHECKS & BALANCES

• Any law passed by Congress and signed by the President can still be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

• The 9 judges review the Law and it may be declared unconstitutional with a majority of votes – 5 judges.

CHECKS & BALANCES

• The Constitution identifies the powers of the President.

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

• Article 11 of the Constitution sets out the powers of the President. They are both defined and limited by the Constitution.

• The powers of the President can be divided into 3 areas…

- Legislative- Executive- Head of State (Patronage)

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

Legislative Powers

• To propose legislation.• Submit the annual budget.• Sign legislation passed by Congress.• Veto legislation.

State of the union address. Every January the president is required to

report to Congress. The President will include budget details and details of laws they want to introduce.

However the President cannot introduce Bills directly himself although he has the power of approval on any new bills and can use the power of veto or pocket veto.

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

Examples of Legislative Powers

2009:

Obama proposed a series of health reforms which

were eventually approved and signed in 2010.

The first of these reform proposals to be passed by Congress is the Patient protection & Affordable care Act, which originated in the Senate and was later passed by the House of Representatives in amended form on March 21, 2010 (with a vote of 219–212).

President Obama signed the reforms into law on March 23, 2010.

Executive Powers

• Act as Chief Executive.• Issue Executive Orders.• Nominate Executive Branch officials.• Nominate all Federal judges.

Appoints Supreme court judges.

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.

Appointments to the Supreme Court are only made when a current judge dies or retires and a President may never be in a the position to appoint a judge during his term of office.

Examples of Head of State Powers

Obama has appointed 2 Supreme Court Justicesduring his time as President.

Sonia SotomayorThe First hispanic American

Elena Kagan

Appoints Secretaries of State. They run the State Departments of which there are 25 including Agriculture, health, Education and Energy. These Departments carry out the duties of Government (like the UK Civil Service).

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

Executive Order. Executive orders are regulations issued by the president that do not require Congressional approval, and they become law after 30 days. Presidents have issued executive orders for a long time.

The executive order almost always generates controversy. There's no explicit authorization in the Constitution for presidents to issue executive orders, but there is a grant of executive power that allows the president to ensure that “laws be faithfully executed.”

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

CAN EXECUTIVE ORDERS BE OVERRIDDEN?

Congress cannot directly vote to override an executive order in the way they can a veto.

Instead, Congress must pass a bill cancelling or changing the order in a manner they see fit.

The president will typically veto that bill, and then Congress can try to override the veto of that second bill. (This is usually very difficult).

The Supreme Court can also declare an executive order to be unconstitutional.

Congressional cancellation of an order is extremely rare.

Notable Executive Orders:

Perhaps the most famous of all executive orders was the Emancipation Proclamation - issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1st, 1863 during the American Civil War. It proclaimed freedom of all slaves living in the confederacy.

Shortly after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order number 9066 directing the interment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, many of whom were U.S. citizens.

In reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, George W Bush issued an Executive

Order combining over 40 federal law enforcement agencies and creating the Cabinet-

level Department of Homeland Security.

Responsible for Internal security. In 2001 the President Created a Department of Homeland Security which significantly increased the potential of the Administration to monitor people in the USA and elsewhere in the world.

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

=

• In Jan 2009 , Obama gave an Executive order on the review and disposition of individuals held in Guantanamo bay Naval base and the closure of its detention facilities. This detention centre was previously set up by the Bush administration.

The White House says President Obama will issue two new executive orders on guns — one to curb the import of military surplus weapons and another that closes a loophole allowing some felons to get around background checks.

August 2013

The new orders ban Americans from buying weapons that the US military has provided to foreign governments. Around 250,000 guns, including assault rifles, have been re-imported back into the US since 2005, according to White House figures. A second order prevents gun buyers from registering machine guns or sawn-off shotguns to a corporation and therefore avoid undergoing a personal background check.

The White House said the orders were intended "make progress toward reducing gun violence" in the wake of the Newtown massacre (Dec 14 2012) even as "Congress fails to act on common-sense proposals".

• Newtown School Massacre: 20 Children, 7 Adults Dead – YouTube

• NRA defends response to Newtown massacre - YouTube

Head of State Powers (Patronage)

• Act as Commander-in-Chief of armed forces.• Negotiate treaties with other nations.• Nominates ambassadors to other countries.• Gives pardons.

Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. It is the President’s job to defend the US from all foreign threats. He can order the use of troops overseas but needs the approval of Congress to declare war.

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

He can make Treaties with other countries with Senate approval.

Obama as Commander-in-ChiefThe President helped overthrow Colonel Qadaffi in Libya.

He has authorized a threefold increase in the number of American troops in Afghanistan.

President Obama ordered and oversaw the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

***

Nominates US Ambassadors and other senior positions such as Supreme Court Judges.

He has to get approval of the Senate.

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

Bush was defeated in his attempts to install John Bolton as a US Ambassador to the UN.So he used a “recess” appointment which bypasses the need for Senate approval.

A recess appointment lasts until the next session of Congress ends or until the individual is renominated and confirmed by the Senate. During the announcement, Bush said, "This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. reform.

FILIBUSTEROn May 26, 2005, Senate Democrats postponed the vote on Bolton's UN nomination. The Democrats claimed that key documents regarding Bolton and his career at the Department of State were being withheld by the Bush administration. They started a Filibuster to delay the debate and vote on Bolton’s nomination.

• THE WEST WING SEASON 2 EP17 - The Stackhouse Filibuster – YouTube

• Grandfathers - The West Wing (HD) - The Stackhouse Filibuster – YouTube

• Ted Cruz Reads Green Eggs And Ham. Ted Cruz Filibuster - YouTube

• The presidential power to pardon is granted under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

"The President ... shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."

THE POWERS OF THE PRESIDENT

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

All a pardon does is put an end to all forms of punishment and the recipient gets back the full rights of a citizen.

George Wilson• In 1829, George Wilson and an accomplice

received death sentences for murder and robbing mail trains.

• The accomplice was quickly hanged but Wilson had influential friends in Washington. These friends beseeched Andrew Jackson for leniency on behalf of their friend, and he relented.

• In 1830, he pardoned Wilson for his capital crimes; the mail robber would only have to serve a twenty-year term for his other misdeeds.

• It sounds like great news for Wilson, but when authorities presented him with the pardon, Wilson perplexingly refused to accept it.

• After much legal back-and-forth, Wilson's case came before the Supreme Court, which ruled that since the pardon was a bit of property, there was no legal way to force Wilson to accept it. Like his accomplice, Wilson was hanged.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

PATTY HEARST• Newspaper heiress kidnapped at

age 19 by radicals in 1974.• She was convicted of armed

robbery after she joined her captors in a bank heist.

• Her sentence was commuted by Jimmy Carter in 1979, from 7 years to time served (22 months).

• In 2001 she was pardoned by Bill Clinton.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

Stockholm syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.

President Bill Clinton became a “lame duck” president in 1999 in the run up to the presidential elections of 2000.

A Lame Duck president is one who has served 2 terms and therefore will definitely not be re-elected. This can mean that the president has less power as other officials are less likely to cooperate with them. However it can also mean that they are in the strange position of not having to face the consequences of their actions as they will no longer be in power. Clinton was strongly criticised for taking advantage of this and issuing 140 pardons just before leaving office including one for his Brother, Roger Clinton.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a gram of cocaine and served more than a year in prison.

Pardoned by Bill Clinton, in 2001.

The make-up of each house directly influences the power the President has. If there is a majority of Republican Representatives and a Democrat President for example, the President will find it harder to get laws passed through both houses. Clinton was the first Democrat President since Roosevelt to win a second term. It was also the first time in 12 years that the Executive and both houses of Congress were held by the same party. However the Republicans won a majority in both houses in 1994. Clinton responded to this by increasing his use of the power of veto. Only one of his vetoes was overridden.

THE MAKE-UP OF CONGRESS

110th 2007–2009

100 49 49 2 — 435 233 198 — 4

111th 2009–2011

100 57 41 2 2 435 256 178 — 1

112th 2011–2013

100 51 47 2 — 435 193 242 — —

113th 2013–2015

100 54 45 1 — 435 201 234 — —

Congress Years Total Dems Reps Others Vacant Total Dems Reps Others Vacant

• The House of Representatives may impeach the President.

• Impeachment means the removal of an official from office for misconduct.

In 1974 Richard Nixon resigned as president when he faced almost certain impeachment over the Watergate scandal.

IMPEACHMENT

December 19, 1998: After 13 1/2 hours of debate over two days, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment, charging President Clinton with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton vows to fill out his term and appeals for a bipartisan compromise in the Senate.

February 12, 1999: President Clinton is acquitted of the two articles of impeachment. Rejecting the first charge of perjury, 10 Republicans and all 45 Democrats vote "not guilty." On the charge of obstruction of justice, the Senate is split 50-50. Afterward, Clinton says he is "profoundly sorry" for the burden he imposed on the Congress and the American people.

THE IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT CLINTON

TERRI SCHIAVO

• The Terri Schiavo case was a legal battle involving prolonged life support in the USA that lasted from 1998 to 2005.

• The issue was whether the husband of Teresa Marie Schiavo had the right to terminate life support for his wife, who was diagnosed by doctors as being in a persistent vegetative state.

• The highly publicized and prolonged series of legal challenges presented by her parents and by state and federal legislative intervention effected a seven-year delay before life support finally was terminated.

• The case has seen President George W Bush and Congress come out in Support of Terri’s parents.

• However Courts at all levels sided with her husband as her legal Guardian.

• A Florida Judge ruled that Terri’s feeding tube could be removed.• Her Parents fought this at all levels including the introduction of

Terri’s Law giving Governor Jeb Bush the power to order doctors to feed Terri.

• This was overruled as unconstitutional by Florida’s Supreme Court. • The US House of Representatives and the Senate put forward a Bill

to review the case and Bush signed it almost immediately making a special trip to Washington to do so.

• The US Supreme court refuses to intervene and the Florida court upholds the original ruling.

• Terri’s feeding tube was removed for the last time on 18th March 2005 and she died 13 days later.

• An autopsy requested by Michael Schiavo revealed that she had severe irreversible brain damage.

• The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act that came about as wide public concern about the state of education.

• It was first proposed by the administration of George W Bush immediately after he took office.

• The bill was passed in the US Congress with bipartisan (Both parties) support the Democrats liked the extra money Bush threw in to sweeten the deal.

WE AS A NATION BELIEVE ALL CHILDREN ARE CAPABLE OF LEARNING AT GRADE LEVEL, WE WILL GIVE THEM RESOURCES TO DO THAT AND WE WILL MEASURE THEM TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE MOVING TOWARD THAT LEARNING AT GRADE LEVEL.

CHECKS ON THE PRESIDENTHow the legislature can check the president: •Can refuse to pass a bill the president wants or to approve presidential appointments. •Must approve budget, declarations of war and treaties.•Can override presidential vetoes and use impeachment powers to remove the president from office.•Chooses the winner of a presidential or vice-presidential election when no candidate has a majority of electoral college votes. •President must periodically report to Congress by delivering a State of the Union address.

How the judiciary can check the president:

•Can declare executive orders unconstitutional.•Chief justice sits as president of the Senate during presidential impeachment trials.

How the president can check the judiciary:

•Appoints judges.•Has power to pardon convicted criminals.

How the legislature can check the judiciary:

•Approves federal judges.•Has power to impeach and remove judges. •Can initiate constitutional amendments and can alter the size and structure of courts. •Sets court budgets.

CHECKS ON THE JUDUCIARY

How the president can check the legislature:

•Can veto a bill Congress has passed. •Can call special sessions and force an adjournment when both Houses cannot agree on adjournment.•Can temporarily appoint senior officials without Senate approval when it is in recess. •Congress cannot reduce the president's salary while he or she is in office.

How the judiciary can check the legislature:

•Has the power to declare laws unconstitutional.•Congress cannot reduce a judge's salary while he or she is in office.•Chief justice presides over impeachment trials.

CHECKS ON THE LEGISLATURE

1. Describe how the three main functions of Government are separated in the US.

2. Explain why this is important in a Democracy.

3. How is the power of each of the following limited?• President• Congress

4. Write down at least 3 powers of the President.

5. Write down checks on those powers of the President.

6. Find at least 2 recent examples of each of the following:• The use of presidential powers (e.g. veto, executive

orders)• Limitations on presidential powers (vetoes

overridden, impeachment, bills not passed)

• Assess the effectiveness of Congress and the Supreme Court in checking the Powers of the president.

15 marks