US Constitution 101, page 18
The rival Whig Party accused Jackson of abusing the veto power, portraying him in a political cartoon as “King Andrew the First.” Although Jackson vetoed twelve bills during his presidency (more than his six predecessors combined), his veto count pales in comparison to those of Grover Cleveland and FDR, both of whom vetoed hundreds of bills while in office. By comparison, recent presidents have used the veto power as much as their predecessors. Since 2001, presidents have averaged less than ten vetoes per four-year term. In the age of televised veto threats, the veto’s golden age may have passed.
ELECTING THE PRESIDENT The Path to the Nation’s Most Powerful Office
Presidential politics is a hallmark of the American political system. Every four years, Americans go to the polls to elect a president to serve in the most powerful office in the US government. Although the election happens every four years, presidential campaigns (and their fundraising efforts) dominate the news cycle for nearly half of that period. Furthermore, on election night, Americans follow the election results that are based on a complex formula. This unique and intricate system of presidential politics is rooted in the Constitution.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE
The presidency is such an important job that one would think there would be a long list of credentials for it; however, the Constitution only gives three qualifications for the presidency.
No Person except a natural born Citizen…shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
—Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution
These qualifications were designed to ensure that the president would have no foreign loyalties and would have reached sufficient maturity to handle the duties of the office. The three key qualifications are worthy of elaboration.
Natural-Born Citizenship
Although the Constitution does not define natural-born citizenship, it generally refers to a person born on US soil. Some strict definitions of natural-born citizenship require at least one parent to be a citizen, but this interpretation has been rejected. Additionally, Americans born abroad to American parents completing military service are considered natural-born citizens. The constitutional idea of natural-born citizenship was intended to shield the presidency from foreign influence. No one would want someone acting as commander in chief who owed allegiance to a foreign government.
Age Requirement
The president is required to be at least thirty-five years old. At the Constitutional Convention, delegates debated about whether there should be any age requirements for federal office, in general. George Mason of Virginia expressed his belief that a twenty-one-year-old had no business occupying any office in the federal government, believing that a person that inexperienced would express political opinions that would be “too crude and erroneous to merit an influence on public measures.” The majority of the delegates agreed and decided to set the ages for the House, the Senate, and the Presidency to twenty-five, thirty, and thirty-five years, respectively. The age limit for the presidency has never been much of an issue, as no one under forty has ever been elected as president or vice president; the median age for presidents when they take office is fifty-five.
Residency Requirement
In addition to being a natural-born citizen, a presidential hopeful must have resided in the United States for at least fourteen years. This requirement was designed to keep someone who was born in the United States, but had spent most of their life abroad, from assuming the presidency, as such a person may be subject to foreign influence.
ELECTING THE PRESIDENT
The Constitution provides for the election of the president through the Electoral College, the members of which are chosen by each state.
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress.
—Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution
To balance the influence of the small and large states, the framers created a formula for the Electoral College that gives the large states more votes and the small states a greater amount of proportional representation in the election of the president. For example, California has fifty-five votes, which is nearly twenty times Wyoming’s three votes. However, when divided by the number of residents, California has one electoral vote for every seven hundred thousand residents, while Wyoming gets a vote for every two hundred thousand residents.
In today’s democratic republic, many Americans are surprised that the president is not elected through a direct popular election. In fact, five presidents have taken office despite receiving fewer popular votes than their opponents. Abraham Lincoln took office after winning only 40 percent of popular votes cast (he had three opponents). The framers of the Constitution would not have seen these results as problematic, as the Electoral College was designed to create an indirect election for the president that would be shielded from popular opinion. Some people want to replace the Electoral College with a popular vote, but such a change would require a constitutional amendment. Small states, whose voice in presidential elections would be altogether muted if such an amendment passed, would likely oppose it.
CAMPAIGNING FOR PRESIDENT
American presidential campaigns are unlike any other campaigns in the world, lasting longer and costing more money than any other election. Presidential candidates are expected to declare their candidacies more than a year before election day, and candidates spend billions of dollars to get to the White House. This is partly due to the two-party system in the United States. Although political parties are never mentioned in the Constitution, partisan groups materialized quickly in the years following ratification, and Americans have only known one brief period when two organized parties were not competing for the presidency.
While many other nations (like Canada and Mexico) have laws limiting campaigning periods to a number of weeks or months, Congress cannot make such a law. The First Amendment prohibits Congress from limiting freedom of speech, and campaigning for office is a form of protected speech. In Citizens United v. FEC (2010), the Supreme Court, in a contested 5–4 decision, ruled that money spent on election advocacy is also a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. Although Congress can limit the amount that an individual or organization contributes to a campaign, it cannot place limits on independent expenditures in favor of candidates. The Citizens United decision resulted in the rise of “super PACs,” independent political action committees that can spend unlimited money promoting political campaigns (as long as the super PAC and the promoted campaign do not communicate directly).
Although some Americans may wish for a shorter campaign period or a limitation on campaign spending, such changes would require an amendment to the Constitution that would enable Congress to regulate political speech.
THE TWO-TERM LIMIT
The original Constitution did not place any limitation on the number of times the president could be reelected. Upon reading the Constitution for the first time, Thomas Jefferson expressed serious reservations about its lack of a provision for rotation in office. George Washington, sharing Jefferson’s belief in the principles of republicanism, chose to step down voluntarily after two terms in office. He was hailed by admirers as an “American Cincinnatus” after the ancient Roman politician who had been given emergency dictatorial power for six months, yet yielded it back after only sixteen days. Every American president followed Washington’s two-term precedent until Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for a third (and fourth) term. After FDR’s death, the Twenty-Second Amendment was proposed and ratified, adding Washington’s unwritten precedent into the written Constitution.
THE STATE OF THE UNION A Presidential Tradition
A respected high school teacher, a cancer survivor, the spouse of a firefighter who died in the line of duty, and many more have received invitations to Washington, DC, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience: attending the president’s annual State of the Union address. But what exactly is the significance of the State of the Union? How are guests selected to attend? And in an age of seemingly unlimited entertainment options, does the State of the Union still matter, or is it a relic from a time when Americans had nothing else to watch on TV?
THE CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE
Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution requires that the president “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” In other words, the Constitution requires the president to regularly brief Congress on the country’s status and propose necessary and suitable actions. This practice, deeply ingrained in American political tradition, has evolved over time, reflecting changes in communication and technological advancements in mass media.
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION
George Washington set a precedent for delivering the president’s annual message to Congress (as it was known then) in person. John Adams also delivered the annual message in the form of a speech. However, Thomas Jefferson, a soft-spoken man better known for his pen than his oratory, began the practice of sending written messages; he believed that a written message would waste less time than an official presidential appearance before Congress. His decision could have also been rooted in his republican simplicity, desiring to end a practice that may have reminded him of the British monarch’s occasional speeches before Parliament. Jefferson’s practice of sending written annual messages to Congress continued for over a century.
The Long and the Short of It
George Washington’s 1790 annual message to Congress was the first State of the Union address, and it was also the shortest, with just over one thousand words. Jimmy Carter’s 1981 annual message, which followed his unsuccessful bid for reelection, was the longest State of the Union address, with over thirty-three thousand words. Carter’s final annual message is also the last message to be submitted to Congress in writing.
In 1913, Woodrow Wilson, a professor-turned-politician who was accustomed to giving speeches, decided to deliver his annual message to Congress in person. Other presidents followed suit on radio and television, taking advantage of the opportunity to deliver the annual message both to Congress and the American people. The term “State of the Union Address” was first coined by Franklin D. Roosevelt and officially adopted by Harry Truman, whose 1947 address was the first to be televised. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson became the first president to deliver the address on prime time, increasing its impact to the point that the opposing party began the tradition of delivering a televised response to the State of the Union the following year. The opposing party’s response to the State of the Union has become a key part of the event, highlighting a democratic commitment to open conversation.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS
Over the years, presidents have used their State of the Union addresses to break news, claim credit for their accomplishments, and lay out major policy proposals before Congress. In 1848, James K. Polk’s Fourth Annual Message sparked the California Gold Rush when he informed Congress that the gold deposits were “more extensive and valuable than was anticipated.” Nearly one hundred thousand people journeyed to California the following year. Lincoln’s second annual message was praised for its powerful prose that encouraged the nation in the midst of the Civil War and rallied support for his Emancipation Proclamation. Franklin D. Roosevelt used his 1941 State of the Union address to challenge prevailing isolationist sentiments in the United States, envisioning a role for the country in protecting the “Four Freedoms” (of speech, of worship, from want, and from fear) across the globe.
The Designated Survivor
An interesting aspect of the modern-day State of the Union is that one cabinet member always skips the event. This practice, known as the “designated survivor” policy, ensures that if a catastrophic event incapacitates the president and other key officials present, there is someone ready to assume leadership.
Some traditions relating to the State of the Union address are relatively recent, with several elements originating with Ronald Reagan, a former actor known as the “Great Communicator.” In his 1982 State of the Union address, he recognized Lenny Skutnik, whom he had invited to attend as his personal guest. After a plane crashed into the Potomac River on an icy January morning, Skutnik plunged into the freezing river to save a passenger who would have drowned without his intervention. The heartwarming story went over so well that the tradition of presidents recognizing “Skutniks”—everyday American heroes—during the State of the Union continues to this day. The following year, Reagan coined the phrase “The State of the Union is strong,” which has been widely repeated by presidents since.
STILL RELEVANT TODAY?
In recent years, the relevance and impact of the State of the Union address have been increasingly questioned. While sixty-six million Americans tuned in for Bill Clinton’s first State of the Union address in 1993, today’s addresses have drawn barely half of that live audience. In the digital age, Americans (especially younger generations) increasingly eschew live broadcasts, preferring to digest summaries and brief sound bites after the fact. The State of the Union remains a vital platform for presidents to articulate their vision and legislative agenda; however, Congress can just as easily ignore the president’s requests (especially when controlled by the opposing party). Although the State of the Union address may not be as popular now, it’s unlikely that presidents will return to sending written remarks to Congress anytime soon.
IMPEACHING THE PRESIDENT High Crimes and Misdemeanors
As recently as 1997, no living American had ever witnessed a presidential impeachment. However, Americans have witnessed three impeachments in the last quarter century. The idea of impeachment is still nebulous to many Americans, many of whom believe that impeachment is synonymous with removal from office or that it has the force of a criminal proceeding. At the time of publication, no American president has ever been removed from office by the impeachment process. Nevertheless, impeachment makes a great story for today’s media and the history books, so it’s advantageous to understand the process.
WHAT IS IMPEACHMENT?
In constitutional terms, impeachment is a formal charge of misconduct against a federal official by a majority vote of the House of Representatives. It results in a trial by the US Senate. Informally, impeachment can describe any attempt to undermine someone’s integrity, as an attorney who is cross-examining a witness might try to “impeach” a witness in court by catching them in a lie. The word comes from a medieval Latin word, impedicare, which means to catch or entangle. So, while impeachment is not the same thing as removal from office, it can catch a federal official and lead to their removal.
The Constitution outlines the grounds for impeachment in Article II, Section 4, which states: “The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” While this clause clearly defines treason and bribery as grounds for impeachment, there is ongoing debate as to what constitutes “high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” In criminal law, a misdemeanor is a minor crime, such as disorderly conduct or reckless driving, so this leaves room for interpretation regarding what constitutes an impeachable offense.
THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS
The Constitution divides impeachment powers between the two houses of Congress. Article I, Section 2 grants the “sole Power of Impeachment” to the House of Representatives, meaning that only the House can initiate the impeachment process by a simple majority vote. Once the House passes articles of impeachment, Article I, Section 3 grants the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” If the president is impeached, the chief justice presides over the trial instead of the vice president. The Constitution sets a high bar for removal from office, stating that “no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.”
A guilty verdict in the Senate results in the federal official’s removal from office, and the Senate has the discretion to bar a convicted individual from ever holding office again. The Constitution only grants the Senate jurisdiction over office holding. An individual removed from office through the impeachment process does not become a criminal, but they can be subject to prosecution for criminal charges through standard judicial proceedings for the same offenses.
NOT JUST THE PRESIDENT
Although presidential impeachments gain the most attention, any federal official can be impeached. Of the twenty-one federal officials who have been impeached, fifteen have been federal judges. Additionally, all eight federal officials who have been successfully removed from office through impeachment have been federal judges. Only one member of Congress has ever been impeached; both houses have internal provisions for expelling their own members.
