444 Chapter 12Chapter 12 || The PresidencyThe PresidencyControl Over the Interpretation and Implementation of Laws
By virtue of their control over the executive branch, presidents are sometimes in
a position to shape policy outcomes by influencing how a law is implemented. For
example, after Congress passed a law in 2017 that mandated sanctions on Russians
who had participated in efforts to interfere in the 2016 American presidential election,
the Trump administration took over six months to identify which individuals would be
subject to sanctions. Besides missing a deadline laid out in the bill, the administration’s
actions targeted only a small number of individuals—significantly fewer than supporters
of the law had expected. However, because the law did not specify how extensive the
sanctions had to be, the administration’s actions, while unilateral, were in fact legal.
Other presidents have found and exploited loopholes in laws that were initially
designed to restrict presidential power. For example, current law requires the president
to give congressional leaders “timely notification” of secret intelligence operations.
However, during the Reagan administration, senior officials did not reveal the
existence of ongoing operations for several months. When these operations were
eventually discovered, officials claimed they were within the letter of the law because it
did not specify a time limit within which Congress must be notified.^30
Most presidents have tried to control the implementation of laws by issuing signing
statements when signing bills into law. These documents, which explain the president’s
interpretation of a new law, are issued most often when the president wishes to approve the
bill but disagrees with the way that supporters of the bill in Congress interpret the legislation.
Presidents issue signing statements so that if the courts have to resolve uncertainties
about the bill’s intent, judges can take into account not only the views expressed during
congressional debates about the bill but also the president’s interpretation of it.^31Congressional Responses to Unilateral Action
In theory, members of Congress can undo a president’s unilateral action by enacting
a law to overturn it, but this is harder than it may sound.^32 Some members of Congress
may approve of what the president has done or be indifferent to it, or they may give
a higher priority to enacting other laws, making it hard to assemble a majority of
legislators who are motivated enough to pass a law overturning the president’s action.
For example, the Trump administration went far enough on its implementation of the
Russia sanctions that only a minority of House members and senators were willing
to invest the time to enact a new bill that went farther. Still, reversals do happen:
Congress enacted a Russia sanctions bill in the first place in a reversal of the Trump
administration’s refusal to agree that Russians actually interfered in the 2016 election
or that America should impose sanctions as a response.
Members of Congress can also write laws in a way that limits the president’s authority
over their implementation.^33 However, this strategy has drawbacks. The problem is
that members of Congress delegate authority to the president or the executive branch
bureaucracy for good reasons—either because it is difficult for legislators to predict
how a policy should be implemented or because they cannot agree among themselves
on an implementation plan.^34 In the case of Russia sanctions, for example, members of
Congress may have been unsure of whom to sanction or what appropriate punishments
would look like. Members of Congress from the president’s party may also want to grant
authority to the president because they hold policy goals similar to the president’s and
would therefore benefit from the exercise of unilateral power.signing statement
A document issued by the president
when signing a bill into law
explaining his or her interpretation
of the law, which often differs from
the interpretation of Congress, in an
attempt to influence how the law will
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