12/2: 107 to 113 (Begin of Ch.

4 to Exercising Checks and Balances)

●​ Constitution divides the legislature into two chambers: House of Representatives and
Senate
○​ All members of Congress have one thing in common
■​ They are there to represent the interests of the voters who elected them.
●​ Wisconsin, like many states, has a partisan process for redistricting
○​ Legislature draws boundaries for electoral districts
○​ In 2011, Wisconsin’s Republican state legislators were invited to a “map room” to
orchestrate the process of making the districts.
■​ But no democrats were invited.
■​ All republican state legislators signed a pledge of secrecy
○​ Baldus v. Brennan
■​ Peter Earle, a civil rights lawyer, got some unexpected evidence from the
law firm in which the Republican Senators were drawing up the district
maps.
○​ 2012 - first election in Wisconsin with the new district boundaries
■​ Republicans won 47% of vote
■​ But still got 60 out of 69 seats in the State Assembly.
○​ 2014
■​ Republicans won 57% of the vote
■​ But got 64 seats seats
●​ This also happened to many other states other than Wisconsin.
○​ In the 17 states where Republicans drew the maps, 53% of voters voted for
Republicans but the Republicans still won 72% of all the seats.
○​ In the six states where Democrats drew the map, 56% of voters voted for
Democrats but Democrats still won 71% of the seats.
○​ Now, computers draw up the maps so that the districts are made with very high
precision, giving the ruling party a huge advantage
○​ This is known as gerrymandering
●​ The Supreme Court finally decided that gerrymandering was “incompatible with
democratic principles” in Rucho v. Common Cause but that it was a “political question
beyond the reach of the federal courts”
○​ So the Rucho decision left partisan gerrymandering cases to state courts to decide
depending upon the state laws and constitutional provisions.
●​ Key differences between the chambers
○​ At the constitutional convention, a bicameral legislature was created
■​ Made of two chambers
●​ House of Representatives
●​ Senate
■​ Both chambers make laws but these two chambers were designed to add
checks and balances within Congress.
●​ “Doubles the security to the people, by requiring the concurrence
of two distinct bodies in schemes of usurpation and perfidy.”
●​ House of Representatives
○​ The representatives are directly elected by eligible voters in their districts
■​ So members of the House of Representatives are supposed to be close to
the people and their interests.
■​ These representatives have a brief term so that they can be held
accountable by the people
●​ But this brief term still gives them enough time to become
competent in their work
■​ Requirements of being a representative
●​ At least 25 years old
●​ Resident of his or her state
●​ Citizen of the United States for seven years.
●​ The Constitution does not bar women from holding office but
certain states did.
■​ Madison argued that House of Representatives should be open to all
people
■​ Senators are more insulated from public and “passions” that might sweep
through the populace
●​ Adds stability to the legislative branch of government
●​ Serves “as a defense to the people against their own temporary
errors and delusions”
■​ With Shays’s Rebellion still fresh in everyone’s minds, the delegates of the
Constitutional Convention were concerned about the dangers of the
tyranny of the poor majority.
●​ That was why they constructed the Senate.
■​ Senatorial candidates must be at least thirty years old, citizens for at least
nine years, and must live in the state that they represent.
■​ Originally, state legislatures elected senators but the Seventeenth
Amendment replaced it by direct popular election by a state’s eligible
voters.
■​ The Power of Congress
●​ Congress has the power to make laws, control the federal budget
and exercise oversight of the federal bureaucracy and other public
officials.
●​ Congress has legislative authority
●​ Congress can pass laws in areas of national policy
●​ Congress has a big list of enumerated powers
○​ Authorized to legislate in economic policy, national
security, foreign policy, and also other policy areas.
■​ The Budgeting Process
●​ Congress has the power to set the federal budget
●​ Congress can appropriate funds for agencies and other programs so
it has substantial power over policymaking.
●​ Congress can also impede the president’s proposals by just
refusing to supply funding
●​ Congress has a lot of influence in the bureaucracy
○​ Congress must authorize the department or agency
○​ Congress also funds the agency’s activities
 ■​ Controversial Congress spending
●​ Pork barrel spending through earmarks to proposed legislation
○​ Members allocate and direct monies to their own district or
state.
○​ But this has been criticized.
■​ Earmarks are still popular with those who receive them
●​ Members of Congress may vote for earmarks in another state to get
their own earmarks passed.
○​ Known as logrolling.
■​ Oversight
●​ Congress can use oversight authority to ensure that laws are
implemented in the way intended or can even investigate the
members of the executive branch for wrongdoing.
■​ Congress also exercises checks and balances
●​ Congress has the authority to declare war
●​ Senate can ratify treaties
●​ This forces the executive and legislative branches to work together
in important aspects of foreign and national security policy.
■​ Congress also has the power of impeachment
●​ Article II, Section 4
●​ If a majority of the members of the House votes to impeach, then
the trial goes to the Senate where a two-thirds vote is needed to
convict the president.
■​ Trump nearly impeached
●​ Democrats in Congress claimed that he had abused his presidential
power to discredit a potential political opponent and to the
detriment of national security.
○​ Claimed that Trump obstructed the investigation by telling
witnesses not to testify.
○​ Trump impeached twice
■​ Impeached but not removed from office.
12/3: 113 to 119 (Exercising Checks and Balances to Institutional Factors: The Advantages of
Congressional Incumbents)
●​ Politics of Congressional Elections
○​ Constituency: The boundaries of representation
■​ The Constitution lays out the most basic rules governing the division of
voters into constituencies
●​ Constituencies are bodies of voters in an area who elect a
representative or senator
■​ But the process of this division is usually very political and controversial.
●​ The Constitution is silent on the issue of House of Representatives
districting.
●​ The 1842 Apportionment Act mandated single-member districts
●​ Additionally, incumbent members of Congress can use their
incumbency to enhance their chances of getting reelected.
■​ Constituency and Senate
 ●​ The Senate has 100 members, two senators from each state.
○​ No two senate seats from the same state are open for
election.
○​ The Senate does not represent citizens equally.
○​ The 600,000 citizens of Wyoming have 2 senators and so
do the 39,144,818 citizens of California.
■​ Apportionment in the House of Representatives
●​ House of Representatives set at 435 members since 1929
●​ The representation of a state in the House depends upon the
population.
●​ Process of determining the number of representatives for each state
known as apportionment.
●​ In the process of apportionment, the number of representatives is
allocated based on the results of the census.
●​ Each state is divvied up into one or more congressional districts
○​ One seat in the House representing each district and each
state guaranteed one representative, no matter how small
the population.
●​ Some trends in population growth and distribution recently have
shown that there are clear gains in House seats for states in the
South and West and losses for states in the Northeast and Midwest.
■​ Redistricting and Gerrymandering
●​ After each census, redistricting occurs, in which states redraw the
boundaries of electoral districts
●​ There are seven states with only one representative, so for those
states the district boundaries are the same as the boundaries of the
state.
●​ Some states now do redistricting between censuses, especially
when a political party gains control over the state’s legislative and
executive branches, but many states have constitutional or
legislative prohibitions against this sort of thing.
●​ Redistricting involves high states
○​ Often highly political and controversial.
○​ Redistributing could put incumbents at risk by changing the
composition of their constituencies or by forcing two
incumbents to run for the same seat.
●​ The intentional use of redistricting to benefit a specific interest or
group is known as gerrymandering.
■​ Partisan Gerrymandering
●​ Tries to increase representation of one political party at the
expense of another political party.
●​ Basically tries to concentrate all of the opposing party’s supporters
into a very small number of districts which will prevent them from
winning too many districts.
●​ Partisan gerrymandering - drawing district boundaries into strange
shapes to benefit a political party.
 ○​ From the famous 1812 cartoon of a senate district in
Massachusetts created under Governor Gerry to benefit his
Democratic-Republican Party.
○​ Weird political cartoon:

●​ Partisan gerrymandering is one of the reasons why congressional

districts are packed with voters who support one party.
○​ Another reason is that more and more people are moving to
communities with those who are like-minded.
○​ It is estimated that only 40 seats in the House of
Representatives are hotly contested
●​ Additionally, people voting in primaries are getting more
ideologically extreme and less representative of the whole
electorate.
●​ So voting behavior in Congress has become more polarized.
■​ Racial and Ethnic Gerrymandering
●​ Tries to increase the likelihood of electing members of racial and
ethnic minorities as representatives by concentrating minority
votes in specific congressional districts.
●​ But this will result in majority-minority districts where voters of
ethnic minorities constitute an electoral majority
●​ But not all scholars believe that creating majority-minority districts
will increase the representation of minorities in Congress.
○​ “More black faces in political office will not necessarily
lead to more representation of the tangible interests of
blacks.”
○​ Some argue that it is better to have a large number of
legislators who have to consider the views of African
American constituents than a small number of
 representative legislators who lack enough votes to advance
their positions.
■​ Supreme Court and Legislative District Boundaries
●​ Until the 1960s, drawing of district boundaries for state legislatures
and the U.S. House of Representatives was generally left up to the
states.
●​ Baker v. Carr in 1962
○​ Republican challenged the Tennessee state legislature’s
district boundaries, which hadn’t been changed since 1901
so as a result some districts contained ten times the
population of other districts.
○​ Tennessee argued that drawing legislative boundaries
should be left to the states.
○​ Supreme Court said that the Court had authority to review
district boundaries created by state legislatures.
■​ Required Tennessee to redraw the congressional
district boundaries so that each district would have
roughly the same number of constituents.
●​ Led to principle of “one person, one vote” which was stated in
Gray v. Sanders and Reynolds v. Sims
●​ Malapportionment is unconstitutional because it violates the equal
protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
■​ Institutional Factors: Advantages of Congressional Incumbents
●​ Incumbency strongly affects the outcomes of congressional
elections.
●​ Incumbents usually win since they possess advantages like media
coverage, established donor network, name recognition, etc…
●​ Incumbency advantage is greater in the House of Representatives
than in the Senate.
12/4: 119 to 125 (Institutional Factors: The Advantages of Congressional Incumbents to Norms
of Behavior)
●​ Experience and Money
○​ The most important things that challengers need are experience and money
○​ But still incumbents have many advantages over any other challenger candidate.
■​ This advantage has been increasing over the recent decades
■​ 85% to 90% of House incumbents running for reelection are successful
○​ Money is also very important​
■​ Used to buy airtime, advertising, campaign events, etc…
■​ Money also used to buy information
●​ Hiring pollsters
●​ Also used to scare off potential opponents and signal to potential
donors
■​ Challengers face a difficult problem​
●​ To be taken seriously they have to have money, but in order to get
money they must show that they are serious challengers
■​ Campaigns are getting more and more expensive
 ●​ $213 million dollars spent on a Florida Senate Seat
●​ Maximizing the Advantage
○​ The franking privilege - free use of the mail for communication with constituents
○​ Also higher levels of recognition
●​ Organization of Congress
○​ Political Parties in Congress
■​ Structure of Congress revolves around political parties and party leaders
■​ Majority party and minority party each control important leadership
positions and organize congressional behavior
■​ Weak party discipline in the United States
○​ Party leadership in the House of Representatives
■​ House of Representatives has 435 members so it is more formally
structured than the Senate
■​ Speaker of the House wields a considerable amount of power
●​ At the beginning of each new Congress, members of the House
elect the Speaker
●​ Also the ability to raise money is considered when selecting a
Speaker
●​ Leadership supported by PAC (political action committees)
○​ PAC’s are there to “make money and make friends”
■​ The House majority leader assists the Speaker of the House​and so does
the majority whip
●​ The whip collects information about how members are planning to
vote
●​ The house minority leader has far less influence but still works to
coordinate the minority party activity
○​ Party Leadership in Senate
■​ The constitution states that the vice president is the official leader of
Senate but vice president can only vote in the event of a tie
■​ The president pro tempore presides over the chamber proceedings when
the vice president is absent but doesn’t really wield any power
■​ Senate majority leader is the most powerful position in senate
●​ Chosen from the majority party
●​ Not as powerful as the Speaker of the House
●​ But still plays a key role in shaping the legislative agenda.
■​ Senate minority leader is just the leader of the opposition in the Senate
○​ The Committee System
■​ Congress deals with many weighty and complex issues so no one member
can be involved directly in each piece of legislation
■​ To divide the workload, both House and Senate established a system of
committees and subcommittees that do most of the work of Congress
○​ Committee Member and Leadership​
■​ Committee membership determined by party leaders and it reflects the
ratio of party membership in each chamber
■​ Committee chairs have considerable influence committee processes
●​ Especially over setting the agenda
 ■​ House committees have more members than Senate committees but
individual senators serve on more committees than their colleagues int eh
house
■​ To get committee assignments, freshman lawmakers are charged dues.
■​ Due to Judiciary is $220,000
■​ Due for Ways and Means Committee is $450,000
■​ Due for Speaker of the House is $20 million
○​ Types of Committees
■​ Congress has four types of committees
●​ Standing - this is where most of the work in Congress gets done
○​ Considered legislation and exercises oversight of
bureaucratic agencies
●​ Joint - consist​ of members of both the House and Senate
○​ Focus public attention on an issue, gather info for Congress
●​ Conference - temporary joint committee resolving differences
between the House and Senate versions of a bill
○​ This is a required by the Constitution before a president can
sign the bill into law
●​ Select (aka special committee)​
○​ Called upon to investigate an issue
○​ Congressional Staff
■​ Assists representatives and senators in providing casework
○​ Norms of Behavior​
■​ Members expected to be respectful, to reciprocate help from others, and
specialize in one or more policy areas to assist the overall level of
information and expertise in Congress
12/5: 125 to 131 (Norms of Behavior to Resolution of Differences between House and Senate
Bills)
●​ The Legislative Process
○​ It is complicated and involves many steps, each step offering another chance to
kill a prospective law
○​ The framers of the Constitution intentionally placed all of these hurdles in the
path of legislation.
●​ The First Step: Introduction
○​ First a bill must be introduced to either the House or Senate
■​ Only members of Congress may introduce a bill
●​ But of course interest groups play a role in shaping the bill or
encouraging a member to introduce it
○​ In order for this bill to become law, it must pass in both the House of
Representatives and Senate
■​ Only the House may introduce revenue bills
○​ But most of the bills never become law and members of Congress realize this but
still push forward bills that they know likely won’t pass
■​ Sometimes to placate some interest group in their home state
●​ Referral to Committee
○​ Assignment to committee involves strategic political calculation
 ■​ Multiple-referral - bills may be assigned to more than one committee
especially if the bill is large and complex
●​ Committees and Subcommittees in action
○​ Once referred to a committee, legislation is usually sent to one or more
subcommittees
■​ These committees and subcommittees hold hearings to gather information
about a bill
■​ The committee report will follow the bill from the committee to the floor
and acts as a history of the bill
○​ Congress committees are the graveyards of most bills
■​ Committees may refuse to report the bill to the full chamber or change
them to make them impassable or simply neglect them
■​ Committee may reject the bill by vote or just table it without further action
■​ In the House, a member can file a discharge petition to free a bill from an
unfriendly committee and move it to the House floor if a majority of
representatives agrees
○​ Consideration in the House of Representatives
■​ House Rules Committee - these are mostly chosen by the Speaker
●​ It determines when a bill will be subject to debate and vote on the
House floor, how long the debate will last, and whether
amendments will be allowed on the floor
■​ Committee of the Whole - consists of all members of the House of
Representatives and meets in the House chamber
●​ Governed by different rules of procedure than when the House of
Representatives normally meets
●​ This gives the House a faster means for considering complex and
often controversial legislation referred to it
○​ Consideration in the Senate
■​ Senators have more ability to shape outcomes on the floor than the House
Representatives
■​ When a senator objects to a bill, the senator may place a hold on the
legislation and communicate to the majority leader their reservations about
the bill
■​ This ability to place holds, offer amendments, and debate issues allows a
dissatisfied senator to consume a lot of time in Congress
■​ Senate operates on the principle of unlimited debate
●​ Filibuster - the power of a senator to talk and talk and keep talking
to delay a motion or vote on the floor
●​ The senator leading the filibuster can read from anything (even a
cookbook) as long as he/she keeps on talking
■​ Only a vote of cloture (requiring ⅗ of senators) can shut down debate and
end a filibuster
■​ So a minority party could just use a filibuster to kill legislation by
seriously delaying it
■​ Because of the increased use of threats of a filibuster, votes of cloture have
become much more numerous.
 ○​ Resolution of Differences between House and Senate Bills
■​ Conference committees reconcile differences between two versions of a
bill
○​ Presidential Action
■​ After successful passage in each chamber, the bill goes to the president for
action
●​ Under Article I, Section 7 the president has three choices for a bill
that lands on his desk
○​ Sign it
○​ Veto it
■​ Vetoed bills can still become law if ⅔ of both
chambers vote to override the president’s veto
●​ But veto overrides are not very common and
it would signal a deep disconnect between a
president and Congress
○​ Allow it to become law through inaction
■​ A bill automatically becomes law if the president
doesn’t sign it within ten days while Congress is in
session

12/6: 131 to 137 (Resolution of Differences between House and Senate Bills to Challenges of
Representation)

●​ 4.5 Congress and the Budget

○​ In 1970, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was established to assist
the president in setting national spending priorities.
○​ Setting the federal budget
■​ Step 1: The President’s proposed budget
●​ Requires that the president’s proposed budget be reviewed by
congressional committees.
●​ Committees are assisted by advice and research from the CBO
■​ Entitlement programs
●​ Provide benefits to those who qualify for them by law
●​ Ex: Social Security and Medicare
●​ Consumes the bulk of federal spending
●​ This is “locked in”, so it is referred to as mandatory spending
■​ The amount available for discretionary spending is much smaller since
most of it is already part of mandatory spending.
■​ Step 2: Congress Acts
●​ In response to the president’s proposals, Congress is expected to
produce a budget resolution providing broad outlines for federal
spending.
●​ The committees in Congress submit budget resolutions to the
president for approval.
○​ Taxation, Deficits, and Debts
■​ Federal government taxes citizens to pay for spending.
 ●​ Individual incomes were actually not taxed until 1913 and the
ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment
■​ Federal taxation policies determine the amount of money that the federal
government takes in to pay for its fiscal policies.
■​ If the federal government takes in more money that it spends, it runs a
budget surplus
●​ Elsewise, it runs a budget deficit which will force it to borrow
■​ The national debt is continuously growing and was roughly $20.5 trillion
in November 2017.
○​ Congress and Public Policy: Social Insurance
■​ The budget is a reflection of public policy
■​ Social Security is an example of an entitlement program because it is
financed by current payroll taxes paid by individuals and does not have
income-based requirements to receive its benefits.
■​ The level of benefits received depends upon one’s contributions during his
or her working years
■​ Americans do not have individual accounts like a savings account at a
bank. Instead, payments to current recipients come from current payees.
■​ If no changes to the law are made, the social security system cannot be
sustained.
●​ 4.6 Challenges of Representation
○​ Acting in Congress
■​ It is easy for constituents to find out how their representatives voted on an
issue but it is difficult for them to keep up with all of the activity.
■​ Legislators’ Voting Decisions
●​ When voting on a law, representatives and senators have to
consider their constituents’ interests. If they ignore their
constituents for too long, they will face a backlash and lose public
support.
■​ Member’s political party also influences how that member will vote
●​ Members will seek input from their colleagues
●​ Input from a member’s congressional staff may also play a role
●​ Campaign donors also influence the voting decisions of members
in Congress.
■​ To remain in office, members of Congress must balance these interests and
decide which sides to appease.
○​ Representing Constituents
■​ Members of Congress play three roles
●​ The delegate role - main duty of members of Congress is to carry
out their constituents’ wishes.
●​ Trustees - members of Congress make decisions using their
knowledge and judgement.
●​ Politico role - Congress is a politicized body, and its members must
balance their choices with the interests of constituents and their
political party.
 ■​ Elections are the main way that voters can shape the actions of their
elected representatives and keep them accountable.Constituents must
communicate their preferences to the representatives.

12/9: 137 to 142 (Challenges of Representation to End of Ch. 4)

●​ The Problem of Partisanship
○​ Political scientists, congressional observers, and even members of Congress have
become increasingly concerned about trends in partisan polarization in which
members of parties vote and act strongly with their own party and become less
likely to cooperate
○​ People disagree about the causes of polarization but voting records show a trend
away from bipartisanship in which two parties work together to pass legislation
●​ Roles of a member of Congress
○​ “Congress is a more accurate reflection of America” - members of Congress
mirror some of the more frequent opinions, etc of the group.
○​ Usually the focus on increasing descriptive representation in Congress aims to
increase membership of a particular group, like women and ethnic minorities.
○​ But in the modern world, members of congress do not mirror the American
electorate at all
■​ Congress members tend to be older, whiter, wealthier, and more educated
than the average American.
●​ Substantive Representation
○​ “The nature of the activity itself, what goes on during representation, the
substance or the content of acting for others”
■​ This is called substantive representation
○​ Substantive representation occurs when members of Congress represent the
interests and policy preference of their own constituents.
○​ Legislators acting on behalf of underrepresented constituents often bring
unconsidered issues to the front, thus enlarging Congress’s agenda.
12/10: 152 to 157 (Begin of Ch. 5 to Chief Executive)
●​ 5.1 Presidential Power and the War on Terror
○​ 911 terrorist attack - terrorists hijacked planes and hit the World Trade Center and
Pentagon
○​ Capture of Yaser Hamdi
■​ Northern Alliance, an ally of the U.S. military, captured Yaser Hamdi
■​ Hamdi accused of aiding the Taliban in operations against U.S. military in
Afghanistan
●​ Held in prison without attorney or the right to challenge his
detention
●​ His father filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming that
his son had gone to the country only to do relief work
■​ But still president Obama continued using executive actions to target
suspected terrorists
■​ In 2011, Anwar al-Awlaki (an American citizen who made propaganda
for al-Qaeda) was killed by the drones.
 ■​ But Obama argued that this targeted killing was the only option to protect
national security.
●​ Under AUMF, passed in 2001, presidents have the authority use
military force against terrorists and their associates
●​ The AUMF was still being used to conduct drone strikes more than
ten years later.
●​ Many worried that the AUMF gives the president too much power
to wage war without Congressional approval.
●​ 5.2 The Constitution and the American Presidency
○​ Selections, Qualifications for Office, and Length of Terms
■​ Electors would be apportioned to states based on congressional
representation and then chosen by state legislatures which would choose
the president
■​ Eventually, 22nd Amendment (1951) prohibited presidents from being
elected more than twice.
■​ Presidents have to be “a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United
States at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution” as well as having
“attained to the Age of 35 years, and been fourteen years a Resident within
the United States” (Article II, Section I)
○​ Federalist No. 70
■​ Alexander Hamilton knew that many people were concerned that the
Constitution created a single executive with way too much power.
■​ Addressed this issue in Federalist No.70
●​ Focused on the importance of having a single energetic executive
●​ Argued that having more than one executive decreases the ability
to protect the nation and weakens the ability to take strong,
decisive action.
○​ Presidential Powers and Roles
■​ Presidents have both formal and informal powers
●​ Formal powers
○​ Enumerated powers given to the president explicitly in the
Constitution
●​ Informal powers
○​ Necessary to carry out the expressed powers
■​ The 5 key roles of the President are:
●​ Chief executive, chief diplomat, commander in chief, legislative
leader, and party leader
12/12: 157 to 162 (Chief Executive to Executive Orders)
○​ Chief Executive
■​ As the head of the executive branch, the president carries out all the laws
of the nation.
■​ But the Constitution does not really say what it means by “executing the
laws”. The Constitution also does not give much detail on exactly how the
president is supposed to run the federal government.
■​ The president’s cabinet consists of the heads of the fifteen major executive
branch departments, vice presidents, and heads of other agencies.
 ■​ Choosing a cabinet is a difficult task for the president
●​ Must consider politics, public opinion, etc…
●​ Having a diverse cabinet is seen by many Americans as
demonstrating a commitment to representing all Americans and
their interests.
■​ Modern presidents have the power to appoint individuals to thousands of
administrative positions. And roughly 1000 of these appointments require
Senate confirmation.
○​ Chief Diplomat
■​ President is responsible for guiding the U.S. foreign policy and interacting
with the heads of other nations
■​ President is authorized to make treaties, appoint Ambassadors, and to
receive Ambassadors and other public ministers (subject to a ⅔ ratification
vote in the Senate)
■​ Power of presidential diplomacy is partly just symbolic and ceremonial
●​ Involves elaborate state dinners and parties and courtside seats to
the NCAA men’s basketball tournament
■​ This diplomatic power also helps shape U.S. foreign policy
○​ Chief Legislator
■​ Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution directs the president to “from time
to time give Congress information of the State of the Union.”
■​ Modern presidents use this opportunity provided by the State of the Union
Address to speak live on television before Congress, Supreme court,
military, and the whole nation
■​ In this address, the president often encourages Congress to pass key pieces
of their legislative agenda.
●​ But of course, the real audience is the American people.
●​ But back then some presidents did not come before Congress, but
instead only sent a written report.
■​ The President is also expected to recommend to Congress any measures
deemed necessary and expedient.
○​ Commander in Chief
■​ President is the commander in chief of the army, navy, and militia of the
states
■​ The President is at the top of the strategic nuclear forces of the nation.
■​ President has a heavy briefcase containing classified information such as
communications equipment, strategic plans, and codes to launch nuclear
missiles.
○​ Pardons
■​ Constitution gives the president the power to issue a presidential pardon
●​ This allows the president to release individuals convicted of
federal crimes from all legal consequences and restore the
“benefits of citizenship”
●​ Presidents usually grant pardons in the final days and weeks of
office.
 ●​ But sometimes when pardoned individuals have very close or
professional ties to the president, this can become very
controversial.
○​ Unilateral President Action
■​ Presidents have often tried to enlarge the boundaries of the power of their
office.
■​ Presidents often try to exercise control over information through executive
privilege
●​ Claim that the ability to control information is key to their
effectiveness as presidents.
■​ Presidents can also sign executive agreements with foreign nations, thus
bypassing the Senate.
●​ These executive agreements are not binding on future presidents
but give the president a way to shape foreign policy.
■​ Signing statements
●​ Presidents add written comments when signing bills that convey
instructions to the agencies that will carry out the law.
■​ Executive orders are policies issued by presidents that do not require
congressional approval.
■​ However, sometimes these make major changes in public policy
●​ Ex: Roosevelt used an Executive Order to relocate more than
130,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps
12/13: 162 to 168 (Executive Orders to the Modern Presidency in Context)
●​ 5.3 Limits on Presidential Power
○​ Framers limited the power of the president by granting specific powers to
Congress and the federal judiciary.
○​ Presidents cannot accomplish most of their objectives without Congress, since the
Constitution gives Congress several checks on the president
○​ Presidents must have majority support in Congress to get their policies enacted
and create and fund the programs.
○​ The War Powers Resolution (1973)
■​ Passed despite President Nixon’s veto
■​ This is one of the most controversial things in Nixon’s presidency
■​ Some credit it as being “the high-water mark of congressional reassertion
in national security affairs.”
■​ This was as a result of widespread public and congressional dissatisfaction
with the expansion of the Vietnam conflict
■​ Under the terms of the War Powers Resolution, president can only
introduce armed forces in conflict or likely conflict if one of the 3
conditions is satisfied
●​ A declaration of war by Congress
●​ A specific statutory authorization by Congress
●​ A national emergency created by an attack on the United States, its
territories or possessions, or its armed forces
■​ Once introduced, the president must notify Congress within 48 hours.
 ■​ Unless Congress has declared war, the president must withdraw forces
within 60 days, with a 30-day extension if necessary to withdraw those
forces safely.
■​ The last war officially declared by Congress was World War II in 1941.
○​ Impeachment
■​ Congress has the power to impeach the president for the vaguely defined
transgressions of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.”
■​ Major vote is required to pass articles of impeachment
●​ The trial then takes place in the Senate
○​ Court Decisions
■​ Supreme Court can check presidential power by overturning executive
actions
■​ In the Watergate scandal
●​ Nixon refused to hand over audio recordings and other documents
to a special prosecutor
●​ The Supreme Court affirmed the power of executive privilege,
stating that “a President and those who assist him must be free to
explore alternatives in the process of shaping policies and making
decisions, ….”
●​ But the Court still demanded that President Nixon hand over
recordings and documents, balancing the need for executive
privilege with the need for the rule of law in criminal
investigations.
■​ But recently, executive orders have been challenged by courts
●​ Obama issued an executive order that would have allow 4 million
undocumented immigrants to apply for citizenship, but this order
was blocked by Supreme Court
●​ Trump issued a travel ban on immigrants from seven
predominantly Muslim countries
○​ The Supreme Court blocked part of the ban.
12/16: 168 to 174 (Modern Presidency in Context to The President and Public Policy: Dream
Act)
●​ 5.4 The Modern Presidency in Context
○​ Vice Presidency
■​ Constitution’s vague language created a weak vice president
■​ A vice president has two jobs according to the constitution
●​ President of the senate - can only vote when it is equally divided
●​ Becomes president if the president retires, dies, is impaired, or is
impeached.
■​ 25th amendment sets the modern rules of succession and establishes a
process for replacing a vice president who leaves office during his or her
term
■​ In 1973 Gerald R. Ford was approved as vice president in the Nixon
administration after the resignation of Spiro T. Agnew
○​ The First Spouse
 ■​ The wife or husband of a president occupies no formal role in an
administration but also acts as an advisor to the president.
■​ Also is a link between the president and the people.
○​ Executive office of the President
■​ In response to the Great Depression and World War II, the office of the
presidency was fundamentally transformed.
■​ 4 main features of the modern presidency:
●​ President regularly initiates legislation
●​ Many unilateral powers have been delegated to the presidency by
Congress, including greater authority over trade policy and war
●​ President is the focus of public attention
●​ Large staff working for the president housed in the Executive
Office of the President
■​ With greater demands upon the federal government during the Great
Depression, FDR needed help so he created the EOP.
○​ President and a Partisan Congress
■​ President plays a role as “chief of party” but this of course is not
mentioned in the Constitution
■​ Modern presidents serve as unofficial leaders of their political parties
■​ Presidents must contend with partisan politics in Congress
■​ Presidents have to battle / negotiate with members of the opposing
Congressional party. But support from their own party members can not be
taken for granted.
■​ Presidents use bargaining and persuasion in dealing with Congress
■​ American people also expect the president to keep them safe and
prosperous
○​ President and Public Opinion
■​ Public opinion is a powerful weapon in battles with Congress
●​ But must be used correctly or else the President will find himself
with many enemies.
■​ Modern communications technologies and ease of travel make connecting
the president to the people significantly easier.
■​ The president uses the bully pulpit to appeal to the public and to pressure
other branches of government to support policies.
■​ Going public - president promotes himself and his policies by directly
appealing to the American public.
●​ But presidents must be careful of what they say.
○​ Americans’ Evaluations of Presidential Performance
■​ Pollsters periodically make polls on Americans' views of how well their
presidents are doing.
■​ Presidents with high approval ratings are in a more powerful position with
relation to Congress.
■​ Sometimes unanticipated events can produce dramatic changes in
presidential approval.
●​ If an economic or military crisis is handled successfully, this will
produce a surge in presidential approval ratings.
 ●​ In the months after the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush’s approval
rating rose to 90%
■​ Some patterns of presidential approval are more predictable
●​ After a convincing first-term victory, they have strong public
approval.
●​ But over time, approval rating slowly decreases.
●​ President Trump is the first president whose approval ratings have
never been above 50%
○​ Aftermath of the 2020 Election and the Threat to Democracy
■​ President Trump claimed election fraud and his legal team filed more than
60 lawsuits challenging the results.
●​ Most of these cases were dismissed
■​ Christopher Krebs, director of the Infrastructure Security Agency declared
that the election was free and fair and that there was no fraud.
●​ Trump fired Krebs.
■​ President Trump continued to challenge the election results
■​ On January 6, Congress certified the vote.
●​ But the day before, Trump encouraged supporters to “Be There.
Will be Wild!”
●​ Thousands of pro-Trump protestors gathered in D.C. and Trump
told them to march to the capitol.
●​ Rioters attacked police officers, broke windows, and stormed the
building.
●​ Trump later posted a video, still claiming that the election was
stolen but telling the rioters to go home.
●​ One Capitol police officer was dead.
■​ On January 7th, Congress certified Biden’s victory
■​ Facebook and Twitter banned President Trump.
■​ Pelosi asked Vice President Pence to use the 25th amendment to remove
President Trump as unfit for office.
■​ President Trump was charged with starting an insurrection
■​ Biden was later sworn into office on January 20, 2021
12/18: 174 to 178 (The President and Public Policy: Dream Act to End of Ch. 5)
●​ 5.5 the War on Terror and Presidential Power
○​ The Supreme Court Restricts Presidential Power
■​ In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court considered the petition by
Yaser Hamdi’s father, challenging his son’s detention.
■​ The Court's decision said “a state of war is not a blank check for the
President when it comes to the rights of the Nation’s citizens.”
●​ Also, Yaser Hamdi would have the right to a hearing “before a
neutral decision maker.”
■​ Shortly afterwards, Hamdi was released after he renounced his American
citizenship and was deported to Saudi Arabia.
○​ The Paradox of Power
■​ Office of president has many paradoxes.
■​ The framers wanted a strong and decisive office, but were wary of creating
an elected monarch.
■​ Americans look to their presidents for leadership yet expect them to
follow the Constitution and the will of the people.