Legislation enacted by Congress
Actions of the President of the United States
Explanation:
Legislation
The framers clearly intended that Congressâthrough the legislative processâadd meat to the skeletal bones of the Constitution as required by the many unforeseen future events they knew were to come.
While Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress 27 specific powers under which it is authorized to pass laws, Congress has and will continue to exercise its âimplied powersâ granted to it by Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 of the Constitution to pass laws it considers ânecessary and properâ to best serve the people.
Consider, for example, how Congress has fleshed out the entire lower federal court system from the skeletal framework created by the Constitution. In Article III, Section 1, the Constitution provides only for âone Supreme Court and ⌠such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain or establish.â The âfrom time to timeâ began less than a year after ratification when Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 establishing the structure and jurisdiction of the federal court system and creating the position of attorney general. All other federal courts, including courts of appeals and bankruptcy courts, have been created by subsequent acts of Congress.
Similarly, the only top-level government offices created by Article II of the Constitution are the offices of the President and Vice President of the United States. All of the rest of the many other departments, agencies, and offices of the now-massive executive branch of government have been created by acts of Congress, rather than by amending the Constitution.
Congress itself has expanded the Constitution in the ways it has used the âenumeratedâ powers granted to it in Article I, Section 8. For example, Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 grants Congress the power to regulate commerce between the statesââinterstate commerce.â But what exactly is interstate commerce and what exactly does this clause give Congress the power to regulate? Over the years, Congress has passed hundreds of seemingly unrelated laws citing its power to regulate interstate commerce. For example, since 1927, Congress has virtually amended the Second Amendment by passing gun control laws based on its power to regulate interstate commerce.
Presidential Actions
Over the years, the actions of various presidents of the United States have essentially modified the Constitution. For example, while the Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to declare war, it also deems the president to be the âCommander in Chiefâ of all U.S. armed forces. Acting under that title, several presidents have sent American troops into combat without an official declaration of war enacted by Congress. While flexing the commander in chief title in this way is often controversial, presidents have used it to send U.S. troops into combat on hundreds of occasions. In such cases, Congress will sometimes pass declarations of war resolution as a show of support for the presidentâs action and the troops who have already been deployed to battle.
Similarly, while Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives presidents the powerâwith a supermajority approval of the Senateâto negotiate and execute treaties with other countries, the treaty-making process is lengthy and the consent of the Senate always in doubt. As a result, presidents often unilaterally negotiate âexecutive agreementsâ with foreign governments accomplishing many of the same things accomplished by treaties. Under international law, executive agreements are just as legally binding on all of the nations involved.
