Constitutional Powers
What is a Veto?
The president's constitutional power to reject a bill passed by Congress.
What is a Veto Override?
A two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress is required to use this check against a presidential veto.
What is an Executive Order?
A presidential directive that manages operations of the federal government and has the force of law without congressional approval.
What is Presiding over the Senate (and breaking a tie vote)?
The Vice President's only formal constitutional duty besides being prepared to take over the presidency.
What is Chief Diplomat?
The President acts as this when negotiating and signing treaties with other nations.
What is Commander-in-Chief?
The President acts as this, the civilian head of the U.S. armed forces.
What is Impeachment?
The constitutional process of removing a President from office, which requires a majority vote in the House and a two-thirds conviction in the Senate.
What is the Bully Pulpit?
This is the informal power of the President to influence Congress, often used through media exposure and direct appeals to the public.
What is the 25th Amendment?
This Amendment clarifies the process of presidential disability and succession.
What is "Energy in the Executive"?
The concept, argued in Federalist No. 70, that the President needs quick decision-making power and a single leader.
What is the Senate's role in Presidential appointments?
Presidential appointments to the Cabinet and federal courts require the "advice and consent" of this specific part of the legislature.
What is the War Powers Resolution?
This 1973 law requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying troops and limits deployment to 60 days without Congressional approval.
What is an Electoral Mandate?
The term for the idea that the President has a powerful mandate to lead based on a large margin of victory in an election.
What is the Cabinet?
The name for the heads of the 15 major executive departments, who serve as the President's chief policy advisors.
What is the 22nd Amendment?
This Amendment limits the President to two terms or ten years in office.
What is a Pardon?
The constitutional power to grant legal forgiveness for a crime, usually used to pardon individuals or groups.
What is Judicial Review?
This power of the Supreme Court allows it to rule on the constitutionality of a presidential action or executive order.
What are Executive Agreements?
These resemble treaties but are agreements with foreign leaders that do not require Senate ratification.
What is the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)?
This White House Office is tasked with preparing the President's annual budget proposal for Congress and overseeing all executive agency regulations.
The President's vacation home
What is Camp David?
What is the State of the Union Address?
This constitutional address is delivered annually by the President to Congress to recommend policy goals.
What is Executive Privilege?
This rule was established in United States v. Nixon (1974), limiting the President's ability to withhold information from Congress or the judiciary.
What is the Stewardship Theory (or the Unitary Executive Theory)?
This theory suggests that the President can claim almost unlimited authority during a time of national emergency or war.
What is the Executive Office of the President (EOP)?
This is the collective group of agencies and staff that help the President run the executive branch, including the White House Staff and the OMB.
2 part question
What do we call the Cabinet member who is not at the State of the Union address and who is held in a secure location?
What is the President's Helicopter called?
The designated survivor
Marine One