Evolution of Presidential Power
In 2006, I read an amazing article in the New York Times Magazine by Noah Feldman about the balance of power in the US government. The article is entitled Our Presidential Era: Who Can Check the President? Feldman is a conservative faculty member at New York University Law School. He worked for the Bush administration as one of the main authors of the Iraqi constitution. Read the article.
You are an expert member of the Brooking Institute think tank. Write a one paragraph recommendation to the Speaker of the House of the US House of Representatives explaining how to increase the power of the Congress and limit the power of the presidency.
Here's the link to the article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/magazine/08court.html
Due At the end of class on Wednesday March 21st. Post here on the blog
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12 comments:
The president has rule over most everything in the America. Due to this problem congress must have strict rulings over his actions. Like the article states I think congress should enforce different oversight programs to “keep watch” and make sure all the laws are followed by the president. The Congress or the Supreme Court alone can not act out these things itself. They must work together to balance out the authoirty of the President.
When dealing with government, there are many ways that are balanced through congress and the president. I think that the government system is screwing us over. The government must strengthen congress's powers and the president's as well. The allocation of power within the government is not determined simply by reading the Constitution and figuring out what it says. To the contrary, the balance of powers is established through a game of give and take, a struggle in which each branch fends for. No court alone can do the job of protecting liberty from the exercise of executive power. For that most important of tasks, the people's elected representatives need to be actively involved. It is customary, when making a plea on behalf of Congress, to give the legislature special consideration because it is the branch originally designed to represent the people. But this is not wholly justified: after all, nowadays the people directly elect the president, and the politicization of Supreme Court nominations ensures a fair amount of popular input into the composition of the court.Then to hope that Congress will resurrect its lost powers is that the balance of powers remains, as the framers thought, the best guarantor of liberty in a constitutional government. But to be able to change the different aspects of government's decision, we the people, have to step up.
Will C.
Mr. Speaker,
My suggestions for you to regain the equal powers between the legislative and exceutive branch would have to be backed by the whole Congress not a just one political party. One thing that could be done is to pass certain laws to check the president's power for example like passing a bill about what a president can do with the military. Another more drastic measure would be to have Congress come together and when the president wants to have a certain idea about policy passed, then Congress could unaminously say no. Keep him from being able to control Congress by keeping him from appointing members that he wants and to ensure that he follows treaties that have been passed. Zach B
Hunter M
As the President and Executive Branch continue to expand there powers it is is vital for Congress to act as a balance. In the many instances where Executive actions are unconstituional and illegal, Congress should be obliged to begin impeachment proceedings. Congress should also enforce the laws it has made in the past and will make in the future and refuse to accept that the Executive branch can simply side step them.
One way to increase the power of the Congress is to have checks and balances concerning the amont of power the president has when it comes to declaring war. The court has responded to some critical issues, but the ultimate result was that the Court never delivered on their promises. For example, in 2004, the most significant case concerned the detention of Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen captured in Afghanistan and then held without trial in the United States. In June 2004, the court rejected the administration's view that it was authorized to arrest an enemy combatant anywhere and hold him indefinitely without trial. The court eventually concluded that Congress had in fact authorized the detention of enemy combatants. Yet at the same time, the court held that a suspected enemy combatant must be afforded the basic right to due process. One thing Congress can do is to pass new laws that leave no doubt that it intends to bind the president and his staff on matters relating to the conduct of war.
Bradley R. ^
Speaker:
My suggestions for your issue with the President's power are as follows: the first is to issue a "law" or more of a decree with LISTED enumerated powers/restrictions of the President's can-do and cannot-do list, so as to leave nothing to the imagination. Leave nothing to speculate on whether or not it is mentioned, eliminating all "it isn't mentioned, so that means I can do it" thoughts from the President. The second suggestion to you is to force all decisions made by the President to have a majority passing favor from Congress. The idea or decision should be issued to Congress, they should be able to hear the entire idea or decision, and if it doesn't have at least majority agreement from Congress, it should not happen. Such huge decisions as the President can make should not be left up to only him.
-Chelsea G.
The president has an abundance amount of power. I feel that the president should have to get everything he does approved, before doing the action. Congress and the Supreme Court should take it upon themselves to regularly check in on the president and his actions. The congress should meet and set up a list of rules that the president must abide by.
Abbey C.
In order to keep a united and effective country, the United States must learn to strengthen the powers of Congress and restrict presidential influence; there are several ways to do just this.
One problem with the powers in government is that many feel that the President has contracted too much power and can do what he wishes even when Congress doesn't necessarily agree. To restrict Presidential power and stop him from ignoring Congressional ideas, Congress could simply reduce its cooperation with the president through actions like suspending financial funding for a presidential program or opposing him on another rising issue. Also, Congress could hold hearings to increase public knowledge and awareness of his questionable actions, thus giving itself more influence and power.
Another issue for example, is when after Sept. 11th Congress gave the president authority to use military force and similar actions. Then, the president ordered actions such as phone taps to prevent further terrorism, but did not get permission from Congress. To strengthen its powers and stop the president from doing this again, Congress could pass new laws that require the President to state what he is planning to do and get permission before doing so on matters such as conducting war. Then, Congress could make programs that review the president’s actions and reports and make sure he is following and obeying laws; breaking the law would result in impeachment and possibly perjury if he lies.
Overall, the most important way to strengthen Congress’s power and to control the President’s expanding power is to keep the courts fair and constitutional, and to keep an effective system of checks and balances /balance of powers.
Ryan M.
There are numerous ways in which the power of the government can be balanced between Congress and the President. In order to increase the amount of power possessed by Congress, and to limit the power held by the President, all military action performed by the President, even sending in troops, should have to be approved by Congress. If the president wanted to send troops in to Iraq or begin the production of new weapons, the approval of Congress should be required before these processes even begin. This limits the control the President has because he can no longer use the force of an army he controls as influence, also Congress has increased control over internal and external affairs. Congress should also make the term “executive privilege” more specific and limiting. This way, the president cannot use this privilege as an excuse for refusing congressional requests such as handing over secret documents or information. Making the executive privilege more specific will lesson the control of the President and ultimately create more power for Congress.
Sarah M.
The congress has to make very structured choices because the president has the ruling over everything in America. Equal powers between the legislative and exceutive branch would have to be supported by the whole Congress not a just one of the parties. The congress has to set the balance because of the presidents constant powers growing. The congress must work as a team in order to gain the balance needed.
Anna C.
To improve our government we should give more power to Congress and less to the the President. This will ensure equalibrium to our nation. If the Congress doesn't have control or power over the President he could issue plans that the Congress does not have control over. To make this possible Congress should approve anything the President oders to do like sending military forces to a place or something dealing with our nations security. Also if there are any reforms to the states.
Amanda R.
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