SECTION. 2
Clause 1
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
-
As SCOTUS has now ruled that the President is immune from prosecution, which means that the President is now more God-like than the King of England whom they originally hated, we must assume that the President does in fact have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States which they themselves have committed. If you want to pretend that checks and balances exist here, then you are either delusional or deliberately nefariously stupid. There are no other options any more. The President is officially and legally above the law now.
That makes the opening part of this clause all the more scary. As the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, and as someone with the metaphorical finger on the nuclear button, what we have is unrestrained power with the full force of the military behind them.
Clause 2
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
-
Especially at the end of Obama's term, we have seen that the "Advice and Consent of the Senate" is a weaponised piece of stupidity. It is now normative that the Congress, if it does not like the President's choice, can and withhold consent; including denying vacancies to be filled until they get their own stooge in the White House.
Can we also stop pretending that there are any checks and balances when it comes to the appointment of Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States? The game was successfully played at the end of Obama's term, principally by Mitch McConnell, to deny Obama the chance to make appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court; to leave the incoming President Trump to rubber stamp whom the Republican Party had already picked.
The Supreme Court, which by the way as the result of Madison v Marbury (1803) gave itself the power to say "what the law is", as a purely political body, was always unfit for the purpose of administering justice. This is probably the result of Hamilton wanting to appoint George Washington as King of the United States in everything but name, and then people like Madison and Jefferson who were highly interested in making factional plays to deliberately ruin the courts before they began.
Clause 3
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session
-
If you had a particularly nasty President, which must happen eventually, then this clause which gifts the power to grant Commissions in the space between the times when the Senate is supposed to sit, then they could go fully-ham and make loads of Midnight Madness appointments. Pack the Court. Get SCOTUS to functionally strike off all kinds of clauses of the Constitution. The thing is that all of this is now perfectly allowed because the President is immune from prosecution.
SECTION. 3
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
-
The State Of The Union address has been ceremonialised to be an official thing that happens once per year, except for those years where there is a handover of administrations. I think that the intent of this is by weight of force of law, to make the Congress sit at least once per year, though the phrase "from time to time" offers no such direction.
Just like the power of the Governor or the Governor-General in Westminster Parliaments, the President is handed the power to convene, dissolve and prorogue the Congress. In practice though, this is for extraordinary Occasions which virtually never happen, except in times of total war.
I think it interesting that the President has the power to call a joint sitting of the chambers in cases where they cannot get their stuff together.
SECTION. 4
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
-
Given that impeachment of Presidents has happened on a number of occasions, and also given that the Civil War itself proved not to be sufficient grounds for the Senate to act upon the grounds of impeachment, it can be argued that this section by demonstrated operation is almost functionally useless. Once upon a time when the party machines weren't quite so partisan and driven by the patrons who give them funding, perhaps this may have been a useful Section but not any more.
No comments:
Post a Comment