Question

Describe when the president may and may not act without specific Congressional consent. What are the ramifications of these differences?

Answer 1

The president is permitted to act with his inherent power, without requiring congressional approval through a Sole Executive Agreement. This is given to the president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and gives freedom to act on foreign policy that will not create new national policies. The results of this type of ruling can be found in several situations where the president makes an executing decision that is sort of in the grey area of whether it fits the Sole Executive Agreement or not. with President Truman and his intervening with the steel companies during the war was found later by the judge to be ‘unauthorized by any congressional enactment’. With the businesses losing power and this crossing into the territory of law creation (not the president’s job Executive branch) the seizure was found to be pushing the limits, and in this case, with Truman, there is no continuation of his power in that area based on the commander-in-chief principle.