Lesson 46 of 1524
The Presidency
The president acts fastest alone, and is checked hardest when the act needs money, a treaty, or a new statute.
Practice this chapterThe cabinet departments and the Executive Office of the President are not the same thing. Cabinet secretaries run large departments. The White House staff works directly for the president and does not face Senate confirmation.
Going public means taking a case to the audience outside Washington, hoping public pressure will move Congress. It is a tactic, not a constitutional power.
Treaty or agreement
A treaty needs two-thirds of the Senate. An executive agreement does not.
The Senate vote is the price of the more durable instrument.
Worked example
A president signs an executive order telling agencies to stop enforcing a statute the president dislikes, and also claims the order replaces the statute. A later president revokes the order. What survived?
- 1An executive order binds the current executive branch. It is not a statute and not an amendment.
- 2The president does not have a general power to repeal a statute by order. The statute remains law unless Congress changes it or a court strikes it down.
- 3Agencies may have paused enforcement while the order stood. That pause is not the same thing as the law disappearing.
- 4The later president revokes the order. The pause ends. The statute, which the order never replaced, is still the statute.
Result: The statute survived. The order did not.
Why. An executive order spends executive power. It does not rewrite statutes. Because it is an act of one president, the next president can revoke it.
A pardon reaches federal criminal offenses. It does not overturn a conviction in a state court, and it does not erase an impeachment.
Practice margin
This chapter
A fresh set from this chapter only. Choose 10 or 20. Multiple choice and fill-in, with no repeat inside the set.