On What Things Should The President Have Sole Decision-Making Power?
Article II of the Constitution outlines the US President's right to broad control and discretionary power within the Executive Branch of the US government. This is referred to as the "executive power" of the office of the President; the term most closely associated with this concept – "executive order" – doesn't actually show up in the language of the Constitution. Moreover, per a Supreme Court decision, a President's exercise of executive power through executive orders is still bound to the Constitution. That is, executive orders must still adhere to the rules, rights, and amendments of the Constitution.
But what if that wasn't the case? What if the President could make unilateral decisions about the most important social issues or crises of a given moment? In this imagined scenario, which issues would you like to see the President exercise unilateral executive power to make happen?
Vote up the issues you would support the US President making solo decisions on; vote down the ones you wouldn't want that process to apply to.
- 1
Nothing; the President should not be able to unilaterally decide on anything.
- 2
Repealing previous presidents' executive orders
- 3
Legalizing marijuana
- 4
Creating tariffs on the import of international products
- 5
Appointing Supreme Court justices
- 6
Brokering deals and negotiating with foreign powers