Answer(s)
• Signs bills into law
• Vetoes bills
• Enforces laws
• Commander in Chief (of the military)
• Chief diplomat
• Appoints federal judges
• Signs bills into law
• Vetoes bills
• Enforces laws
• Commander in Chief (of the military)
• Chief diplomat
• Appoints federal judges
When the president approves a bill passed by Congress.
The president's role as the top military leader.
To officially name someone to a position.
To make sure laws are followed.
The forced separation of people by race.
To bring different groups together, ending separation.
A diplomat who represents a country in a foreign nation.
DOUGLAS GINSBURG, Federal Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit:
The Constitution gives the president specific, limited powers. Among them: Signing bills into law, vetoing bills, serving as commander-in-chief of the military, and appointing federal judges like me.
The president also enforces the laws – as President Eisenhower famously did when a governor defied a Supreme Court decision. In 1954, in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Court declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Southern governors dragged their feet to avoid integrating their schools – and one defied the Court outright: Orval Faubus of Arkansas. Defying his political advisors, Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock to protect nine Black students during the integration of Central High School.
The president also serves as our chief diplomat and sets the nation’s foreign policy. To that end, the president appoints ambassadors with the advice and consent of the Senate and negotiates treaties but, again, requires the advice and consent of the Senate before they become law.
After World War I, President Woodrow Wilson ignored the Senate’s advice on the Treaty of Versailles. It became the first peace treaty the Senate ever rejected.
In sum, the powers of the president include signing, vetoing, and enforcing laws, serving as commander in chief of the military, and as chief diplomat, as well as several other powers – all carefully spelled out in the Constitution to ensure that the leader of the nation is indeed a president and not a dictator.