Professional Documents
Culture Documents
U.S. v. Nixon
o President Nixon claimed he had executive privilege- authority to
withhold information from the courts and Congress
o Although the Constitution doesn’t mention such a privilege, Nixon
contends that the privilege is inherent in the powers of the
presidency
o Without it, presidents could not guarantee confidentiality in convos
with other officials or even foreign leaders- could make it difficult to
govern
Executive Orders (p. 371)
o Rules or regulations issued by the president that have the force of
law; issued to implement constitutional provisions or statutes
Executive Agreements
o President ignores the power of Congress to ratify treaties and
makes “not-quite-treaties” between government heads in multiple
countries
o Similar to executive orders “not-quite-legislation” for domestic
issues
o
White House Staff (Executive Office of the President)
o The president has a cabinet which represents the heads of
executive branch
o They need some experience, expertise in area, and management
skill
o The President selects choices for cabinet posts but they must be
confirmed by the Senate
o Important in presidential decision making, supposd to be free of
political influence
o Usually viewed as president’s advisors, but not necessarily
supposed to be that way
o Cabinet is supposed to be the “experts” and executioners of law,
part of a constant back and forth between the President and the
rest of the branch
o Problem with Bush Cabinet-no expertise but cronyism
o White House staff
That’s for cronies
President selects who he wants without confirmation because
they are not official officeholders
Led by Chief of Staff
o Cabinet is supposed to be more pure policymakers while the staff is
more about political operatives
Line- Item Veto
o A line-item veto is a power by which the executive can nullify
specific portions of the bill without vetoing the whole thing….the
power is held by governors in all but seven states
Electoral College
o We don’t directly vote for the president, but rather unnamed
electors that make up the Electoral College
o Idealistically, the electors are supposed to be wise people of the
states who would get together and vote, and they would be locally
known enough that one could validly vote for the one that one
agreed with better
o However, nowadays, it got twisted into “vote for electors who will
definitely vote for the president I want.”
Wise-people closed-room idea got thrown out
o Electors can still exercise independent judgment, but the check
against that is they are pre-selected by the parties who will usually
choose the “fanatics”
Office of Management and Budget
o White House office that handles the executive budget
Article II Powers of the President
o Commander-in-chief of the Army
He is the “Decider” fro the military – the ultimate/supreme
one
Founding Fathers didn’t intend it that way; they figured
Congress would have to declare war, but it doesn’t happen
that way anymore
o Head of Executive Branch
He is ultimately responsible for making sure that the laws are
put into place completely and fairly
o Chief Policymaker
Not so much implementing the laws as crafting them
Legislation actually passed by Congress, but the President is
the one who spearheads the legislation and pushes it through
o Chief Diplomat
Negotiates treaties
Treaties must be ratified by the Senate
See executive agreements
o Figurehead
Leader of the people
We accept the notion implied by this role, that our President
should be a good representative of the nation
What’s the one power in the Constitution for which there is no check on
the President?
o Answer: Pardons
Subcommittees in Congress
o *The realm where most of our life-or-death decisions on bills occur
o First comes the “Marking up of the bill”- People get their hands on it
Staff of the Congress do research on the topic of the bill, give
input, maybe some executive people as well
It could be so marked up that it dies, or it could be scheduled
for a hearing
o At a hearing, all the people interested in the bill come in and
discuss it, and the bill is reshaped accordingly
o After the hearing, the subcommittee chairman must schedule it for
a vote – another place it can die
o It can lose the vote in subcommittee, in which case it’s dead
o If it passes, it gets reported back to the committee
Pork Barrel
o Funding for special projects, buildings, and other public works in the
district or state of a member of Congress. Members support such
projects because they provide jobs for constituents and enhance
the members’ reelection chances, rather than because the projects
are necessarily wise
Earmark
o A specific amount of money designated – or set aside – at the
request of a member of Congress, for a favored project, usually in
his or her district. The dollar amount may be included in one of the
budget authorization bills, but more commonly is the committee
report attached to the ball that instructs the relevant executive
branch agency how to spend the money authorized for its
operations
Logrolling
o When you couple earmarking and pork barreling together
o “You support mine and I’ll support yours”
Steering Committee/Committee on Committees
o With the leadership’s prodding, this committee decides who gets on
what committee
o The Republican version is the Committee on Committees
Powers of the Speaker
o The leader and presiding officer of the House of Representatives;
chosen by the majority party
o Has control over committees: assigning bills to committees and also
determining the composition thereof
Elastic Clause
o Congress has authority to make all laws “necessary and proper” for
carrying out its specific powers
o This is sometimes called the implied powers clause because the
federal courts soon interpreted its vague wording to mean that
Congress could legislate in almost any area it wished – greatly
expanded the reach of the national government
Marbury v. Madison
o Implemented judicial review
o First big Supreme Court ruling
o John Marshall was seeking an opportunity to strengthen the “weak
leg” of the Federal Government (Judicial Branch)
o Judicial review gave a new, very important power to declare laws
unconstitutional
o Fosters power in the national government because it is the counter
point to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions – States don’t
determine what is constitutional, we do
McCullogh v. Maryland
o Whether Maryland could tax the Bank of the United States
o Supreme Court says that national law is above state law, and
Congress can constitutionally create a bank
o Acknowledging the power of Congress to do things under the elastic
clause grows Congress’ power to legislate, which concentrates
more power in the national government
Different Types of Committees
o Standing Committees
Permanent congressional committees
o Steering/Committee on Committees
See previously mentioned
o Rules Committee
Deals with debate of bills in the House; it determines the
rules for debate (the time allotted and special conditions that
might attach)
Bill dies if never gets rules attached
o Subcommittees
See previously mentioned
o Select/Special Committees
Typically organized on a temporary basis to investigate a
specific problem or to hold hearings and issue a report on
special problems that arise (ex. Intelligence agency failures
prior to 9/11 etc)
o Joint Committees
Includes members from both houses, with the chair
alternating between a House and Senate member
There are four permanent joint committees, two of which
study budgetary and tax policy
The other two administer institutions and affiliated with
Congress
o Conference Committee
Appointed whenever the Senate and the House pass different
versions of the same bill
Also has joint membership
Members from the committees that managed the bill in their
respective chambers work out a single version fro the full
membership to vote on
Can kill the bill by inaction, but it usually works out
compromise language
o Task Forces/Ad Hoc Committees
The traffic jams and turf wars surrounding much committee
work have led members of Congress with strong interests in
particular areas to look for ways to bypass the committee
structure
Write bills that offer an alternative to what the relevant
standing committees are likely to produce and doing it more
quickly
On the other hand, task forces bypass mechanisms for
accountability to the public and to most rank-and file
members
• Bills are written without formal hearings or the
opportunity to point out any potential pitfalls and
problems of legislation
Filibuster/Cloture
o A continuous speech made by one or more members to prevent the
Senate from taking action on a bill
o Today, a cloture vote of three-fifths of the members closes or ends
debate on an issue thrity hours after cloture is invoked – the
measure then must be brought to a vote
Pocket Veto
o Final kill point for a bill: The bill goes to the desk of the President,
who must either sign it into law or veto it
o If he doesn’t sign it within the last ten days of Congress’ session,
the bill dies (called a pocket veto)
Question about the media: All it is trying to say is – “All of the following are
arguments that Waterhouse raised in class that undermine this particular
idea except:”
Liberal Bias
o Some claim there is some kind of “liberal” bias in the media and
academia
o Media: Proof is journalists are overwhelmingly Democratic
o Academia: There is a liberal bias to education because it is
inherently about seeking new answers to things; and teachers are
mostly liberal because they're teaching because they aren't focused
on making money.
o BUT if the educational process really did liberalize young people,
growing trends in higher education would correlate with growing
trends in liberality amongst youngsters, which is not true
o Similarly, if it was a problem that the media had a “liberal bias,” it
would be affecting our political discourse, making the public more
and more liberal, which is not true as well (We’re a center-right
country)
Money Bias
o To the degree that your education has gotten you wealth, you want
to keep it, so you’re conservative
o Down the economic scale, traditionally the working class was
Democratic
Ponder for the exam: What other forces, informal mechanisms, are
at work in the modern era that dictate that foreign policy power must be in
the presidency?