William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

The president’s job description 433

sharp reduction in the number of laws enacted by Congress).^19 Vetoes are much less

likely under unified government, when one party controls both Congress and the

presidency, because the chances are much higher that the president and legislators

from his or her party hold similar policy priorities. Thus, in the first two years of the

Trump administration, when a Republican president faced a Republican Congress, the

president did not veto any legislation. A president’s veto threats also allow the president

to specify what kinds of proposals he or she is willing or unwilling to accept from

Congress. Legislators then know that they need to write a proposal that attracts two-

thirds support in both houses or accede to a president’s demands.

Pardons and Commutations

The Constitution gives the president several additional powers, including the authority

to pardon people convicted of federal crimes or to commute (reduce) their sentences.

The only limit on this power is that a president cannot pardon anyone who has been

impeached and convicted by Congress. (Thus, if a president is removed from office via

impeachment, he or she can neither pardon himself or herself nor be pardoned when

the vice president assumes the presidency.)

Although most presidential pardons attract little attention, some have been extremely

controversial. Many of Obama’s pardons involved individuals with no prior criminal

record who had been sentenced to long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses. Obama

also pardoned army private Chelsea Manning, who had been convicted of leaking

classified information to the WikiLeaks organization. As of late 2018, Donald Trump

has issued only a few pardons, although this is not atypical for the first two years of a

president’s term. Notably, in 2017 President Trump pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe

Arpaio, who had been convicted of contempt of court for refusing a judge’s order to stop

racial profiling in police traffic stops, and in 2018 pardoned conservative commentator

Dinesh D’Souza, who had been convicted of campaign finance law violations.

Executive Privilege

Finally, although this power is not formally set out in the Constitution or a statute,

all presidents have claimed to hold the power of executive privilege. This refers to

the ability to shield themselves and their subordinates from revealing White House

discussions, decisions, or documents (including e-mails) to members of the legislative

or judicial branches of government.^20

Although claims of executive privilege have been made since the ratification of the

Constitution in 1789, it is still not clear exactly what falls under the privilege and what

does not. In the 1974 case United States v. Nixon, a special prosecutor appointed by the

Justice Department to investigate the Watergate scandal challenged President Nixon’s

claims of executive privilege to force him to hand over tapes of potentially incriminating

Oval Office conversations involving Nixon and his senior aides. The Supreme Court

ruled unanimously that executive privilege does exist but that the privilege is not

absolute. The Court’s decision required Nixon to release the tapes, which proved his

involvement with attempts to cover up the scandal—but the ruling did not clearly state

the conditions under which a future president could withhold such information.^21

All presidents have claimed executive privilege, although the circumstances have

differed. During the congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016

election, several of President Trump’s appointees, including Attorney General Jeff

Sessions, claimed executive privilege in refusing to answer questions about Oval Office

Through his two terms in office,

President Obama pardoned or

commuted the sentences of

1,927

individuals convicted of federal

crimes.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

DID YOU KNOW?

executive privilege

The right of the president to keep

executive branch conversations and

correspondence confidential from the

legislative and judicial branches.

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