Presidential Powers & the Constitution
In most democratic nations, the responsibility to represent the nation symbolically, ensure the implementation of the government’s laws and command the military, are not typically assigned to a single governmental official as we have in our U.S. president.
1. Would the United States be improved overall if the leadership role of president as head of state, chief executive officer, and commander in chief were constitutionally assigned to other governmental officials other than one president? What do you think the advantages and disadvantages to giving the president all these powers are?
Additionally, modern presidents have gained more power through different inherent powers (i.e., executive privilege, executive orders, executive signing statements and executive agreements).
2. Do these claimed inherent exercises of presidential powers upset the system of check and balances between branches? Why or Why not?
