US PRESIDENT: ELECTION, POWERS AND FUNCTIONS

 

Q: Write a note on US President.  Explain his powers and functions.

Ans:

AMERICAN PRESIDENT:

“The US President is the highest executive officer of the federal government of the United States”.

US President is head of state as well as chief executive of the country and has got enormous executive powers and authority. According to Article 2, section 1 of the US Constitution, “All the executive powers shall be vested in the president of the United States”.

According to Herbert Coover:

“The presidency is more than executive responsibility. It is the inspiring symbol of all that is highest in America's purpose and ideals”.

QUALIFICATIONS:

A presidential candidate must fulfill the following conditions:

1)    He must be a natural born citizen of America .

2)    He must not be less than 35 years of age.

3)    He must have lived in the US for not less than 14 years.

 

 

 

TENURE AND RE-ELIGIBILITY:

The US President is elected for a term of four years. The Constitution originally did not put any restriction on the re-election of the President.

George Washington, the first president, was elected twice but he refused to contest election for the third time. Since then a convention had been developed forbidding the re- election of a president for more than two terms.

 

ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT:

The US President is elected indirectly I.e by an electoral college who’s members from each state are directly elected by the people of each state.

The presidential electors in each state meet on fixed dates and vote for the president and vice president, for a fixed term of four years.

If no candidate, for the presidency or vice presidency, receives a clear majority of the votes of Electoral College, the members of House of Representatives elect president from the top-three presidential candidates and the senators vote for the Vice President from the top-three listed candidates.

 

 

 

SUCCESSION:

The Article 2, section 1 and clause 5 of the US Constitution states that if the president’s office falls vacant due to his death, resignation, impeachment Or inability to discharge the duties, the vice president succeeds to his office for the remaining period of his term.

If both the President and Vice President are unable to perform their duties, they would be succeeded by the Speaker of House of Representatives, President Pro-Tempore of Senate, Secretary of State, Treasury, Defense,  Attorney General, Secretary of Interior, Agriculture, Commerce and so on.

 

IMPEACHMENT:

The President may be removed from his office before the expiry of his term(4 years) through impeachment. The House Of Representatives adopts by resolution articles of impeachment, charging the president with certain high crimes and choosing leaders to direct the prosecution before the senate which acts as a judicial tribunal for impeachment. It’s meeting is presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court .

The Senate may convict the President by two-third majority of it’s members present and voting. President Johnson, Clinton and several others were subjected to impeachment, but they could not be removed from their offices due to the lack of required majority.

PRIVILEGES:

The president gets a salary of $300000 per year with residence (White House) and other official set up. Except impeachment by the Congress, the President is immune from arrest for any offence during his presidency. The courts cannot call him. He can be punished only after removal through impeachment.

 

POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF US PRESIDENT:

The US President enjoys extensive executive, legislative, financial and judicial powers, which are as under:

 

1)    Executive Powers:

American President possess the following executive powers.

A)   Chief Administrator:

·      All the executive actions are taken in the name of President.

·      He is the head of national administration and the supervisor of it’s operation.

·      He is responsible for the execution of laws, treaties and judicial decisions.

·      He is master of his cabinet. Cabinet members are appointed by him and they remain in office as long as the President is pleased with them.

 

B)  Power Of Appointments

Ø He has the power to make all important appointments but all such appointments are to be approved by the Senate.

Ø As a matter of usage, the, Senate does not interfere in the appointments of the Secretaries, Ambassadors, and other diplomats. But the appointments of Judges of the Supreme Court must be scrutinized thoroughly by the Senate In the appointments of federal officers in various states of the U.S.A. the convention called “Senatorial Courtesy” has come into existence.

Ø The constitution of the USA says that the federal appointments are to be made by the President and approved by the Senate. The President has no time to look into all appointments, which number in thousand. So he has delegated his power to make appointments to the Senators from the state where there is a vacancy. The only condition is that the Senators must belong to his party. The appointments made by the Senators are approved by the Senate out of courtesy.

Ø The President has the power to remove any person appointed by him except judges.

 

C)  Commander In Chief:

The US President is the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces. In that capacity, he is authorized to take all those actions which are necessary for the defense of the country.

He directs the armed forces on land and sea for offensive and defensive purposes and can send the American forces to any part of the world.

 

D)  Exponent Of Foreign Relations:

Ø The President represents the USA in foreign relations and formulates the foreign policy of the US.

Ø He appoints all the diplomatic representatives of the US to foreign states with the consent of the senate.

Ø He can negotiate treaties and agreements with foreign states, but all these treaties must be ratified by the senate.

Ø The President has the sole authority to extend American recognition to a new foreign state.

 

2)    LEGISLATIVE POWERS:

The President possess several legislative powers, which are no less significant than his executive powers. Some of the legislative powers are as under.

A)  Veto Power:

All the bills passed by the congress, are referred to the President for his final approval. The president may deal with them in any of the following four ways.

Ø He may assent the bill, which then becomes an act.

Ø He may take no action on it within ten days, it will become an act if the congress is still in session.

Ø He may take no action on the bill within ten days, it will be killed if the congress is not in session. It is known as “Pocket-Veto” of the President .

Ø He may reject a bill and may return it to the House with or without amendments. In case, the bill is repassed by two-third majority of each house, it will become law without the assent of the President.

 

B)  Presidential Messages:

As President does not take part in legislative process,  the President can send messages to the congress from

time to time , suggesting some important legislative measures. Though the congress can ignore them but in practice it does not happen because of the political spirit and national status of the President.

 

 

C)  Call For Special Sessions:

The Constitution empowers the President to call special sessions of the congress. Such a session may last for a few days or may continue till such time as the next session starts.

 

D)  Ordinances:

        The President can also issue certain executive orders    having the force of law.     This is known as the Ordinance power, of the President. The number of such executive orders is very large. As a result of this the President has been able to, increase his legislative influence tremendously.

 

 

 

 

3)    JUDICIAL POWERS:

The president also enjoys some judicial powers. These are:

A)Pardon:

The President has got the powers to grant reprieves and pardons. This power is exclusively exercised by him and does not require any consent.

He can pardon offenders against the federal laws except those who have been impeached. Similarly,  he has no authority to grant pardon against the laws of the state.

 

B)Appointments:

The US President also appoints federal judges with the approval of senate.

 

4)    FINANCIAL POWERS:

The US President is the financial manager of the country as he directs and controls the finances. The federal budget is prepared under the supervision of President. Finally, it is submitted in the congress for approval, where a President can shape the budget through his party congressional members, and in emergency the President is authorized to spend as much money as required in it’s own discretion.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

The American Presidency is a constitutional office. It’s powers are huge but they have to be exercised with in the constitutional limits. The President holds his office for a fixed period of time. Moreover, the President cannot bypass decisions of the Supreme Court which is an independent body.