CHAPTER TEn • THE PREsidEnCy 235
Constitutional Power
A power vested in the
president by Article II of
the Constitution.
Statutory Power
A power created for the
president through laws
enacted by Congress.
Expressed Power
A power of the president
that is expressly written
into the Constitution or
into statutory law.
Inherent Power
A power of the
president derived from
the statements in the
Constitution that “the
executive Power shall
be vested in a President”
and that the president
should “take Care that
the Laws be faithfully
executed.”
Emergency Power
An inherent power
exercised by the president
during a period of national
crisis.PREsidEnTiAl PoWERs
Presidents have at their disposal a variety of special powers and privileges not available in
the other branches of the U.S. government. Most of the powers of the president discussed
earlier in this chapter in the section on the roles of the president are called constitutional
powers, because their basis lies in the Constitution. In addition, Congress has established
by law, or statute, numerous other presidential powers—such as the ability to declare
national emergencies. These are called statutory powers. Both constitutional and statu-
tory powers have been labeled the expressed powers of the president, because they are
expressly written into the Constitution or into law.
Presidents also have what have come to be known as inherent powers. These
depend on the statements in the Constitution that “the executive Power shall be vested
in a President” and that the president should “take Care that the Laws be faithfully
executed.” The most common example of inherent powers are those emergency pow-
ers invoked by the president during wartime. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, used his
inherent powers to move the Japanese and Japanese Americans living in the United States
into internment camps for the duration of World War II. President George W. Bush often
justified expanding the powers of the presidency by saying that such powers were neces-
sary to fight the war on terrorism.Emergency Powers
If you were to read the Constitution, you would find no mention of the additional
powers that the executive office may exercise during national emergencies. Indeed,
the Supreme Court has stated that an “emergency does not create power.”^12 But it
is clear that presidents have made strong use of their inherent powers during times
of emergency, particularly in the realm of foreign affairs. The emergency powers of
the president were first enunciated in the Supreme Court’s decision in United States
v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.^13 In that case, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, without
authorization by Congress, ordered an embargo on the shipment of weapons to two
warring South American countries. The Court recognized that the president may exer-
cise inherent powers in foreign affairs and that the national government has primacy
in these affairs.
Examples of emergency powers are abundant, coinciding with crises in domestic and
foreign affairs. Abraham Lincoln suspended civil liberties at the beginning of the Civil
War (1861–1865) and called the state militias into national service. These actions and
his subsequent governance of conquered areas—and even of areas of northern states—
were justified by claims that they were essential to preserve the Union. Franklin Roosevelt
declared an “unlimited national emergency” following the fall of France in World War II
(1939–1945) and mobilized the federal budget and the economy for war.
President Harry Truman authorized the federal seizure of steel plants and their opera-
tion by the national government in 1952 during the Korean War. Truman claimed that he
was using his inherent emergency power as chief executive and commander in chief to
safeguard the nation’s security, as an ongoing steel mill strike threatened the supply of
weapons to the armed forces. The Supreme Court did not agree, holding that the presi-
dent had no authority under the Constitution to seize private property or to legislate such- Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell, 290 U.S. 398 (1934).
- 299 U.S. 304 (1936).
LO3: Describe some of the
special powers of the president,
and tell how a president can be
removed from office.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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