By: Dale Weckbacher
Deuteronomy 17:14-17
"When you come
to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in
it, and say,'I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around
me,' 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses;
one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a
foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply
horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses,
for the LORD has said to you,'You shall not return that way again.' 17 Neither
shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he
greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
NKJV
Last week we explored the intent of the authors of the U.S.
Constitution when it comes to the Presidency.
Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution outlines the enumerated powers of the
Presidency. However, the term enumerated
powers is not a term used today so in this posting let us look at the
Presidency as a job and look at article 2 as a job description.
Most job descriptions contain three parts, the
qualifications for the job, the duties of the job, and finally, how one gets
the job.
1)
Qualifications – According to Article 2, the
qualifications for the Presidency are as follows, “No
Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the
time of the Adoption of this Constitution, 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.” The
question of what constitutes a “natural born citizen” has come into dispute in
recent years. Some, like presidential
candidate Donald Trump contend that it means someone born on U.S. soil (1) while others believe
it means someone born to at least one U.S. citizen parent and not based on the
geographical location of his or her birth.
(2) Once again, by looking at the original intent
of the authors of the Constitution, we can find clarification on this
issue. Their definition of natural in
the term natural born citizen was the same as the natural in the term natural
born subject, which meant someone born to a sovereign of the British
Crown. (3) It is therefore safe to assume that in the
eyes of the authors of the Constitution, the qualifications to be President of
the United States are simple, someone 35 years of age or older who were born to
at least one U.S. citizen regardless of where the birth occurred.
2)
Duties – Section 2 of Article 2 outlines the
duties of the Presidency which include
a.
Commander in Chief – Article 2 Empowers the
President, as commander in chief, to fulfill his or her duty of defending the
country by giving him or her command of the military. This role as commander in chief allows the
President to call out the military in order to defend the nation when necessary.
b.
Pardons – The President has the authority to
issue pardons for offences against the United States but this power does not
extend to cases of impeachment.
c.
Appointments – The President has the authority
to appoint public officials such as cabinet members, judges etc. However, these appointments are subject to
the advice and consent of at least two thirds of the members of the Senate
present at the time the vote occurs.
d.
Addressing Congress – From time to time the
President is required to address Congress giving his or her state of the union
and recommending, not initiating, legislation to improve the state of the
union. (4)
3)
Attaining the job – The Presidency is an elected
office the term of which lasts four years.
The 22nd amendment of the Constitution went on to limit the
President to two terms. However, even
though the Presidency is an elected office, it is unlike other elected offices
in that it is not based upon the overall popular vote of the citizens but is
based upon the Electoral College, which consists of a delegation of nonelected
officials from each state consisting of one elector for each Representative and
Senator from that state. This means that
for an individual to attain the job of President of the United States, he or
she must have broad support from several states and not just an overwhelming
popularity in a few states with large populations such as New York, California,
or Texas. Looking at the 2000 election
we see how Al Gore, with overwhelming support from New York and California
earned a popular vote victory but was stopped due to George W. Bush’s broad
national support from the rest of the country.
(5)
Unfortunately, the duties of the office of the Presidency
have expanded through the years and have begun to infringe upon the duties and
powers of the other two branches of the United States government. In next Wednesday’s posting on defining the
presidency, we will look at how this infringement has occurred and the danger these
infringements pose to our Constitutional Republic.
1. Epps, Garrett. Ted Cruz is a Natural Born
Citizen. www.theatlantic.com. [Online] The Atlantic, January 14, 2016.
[Cited: May 7, 2016.] www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/donald-trump-ted-cruz-birther-argument/424104/.
2. Allen, Cooper.
Cruz Turns Tables on Trump With Citizenship Question. www.usatoday.com. [Online]
USA Today, January 15, 2016. [Cited: May 7, 2016.] www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/14/donald-trump-ted-cruz-citizenship/78824512/.
3. Barnett, Randy.
From Natural Born "Subjects" to Natural Born "Citizens". volokh.com.
[Online] The Volokh Conspiracy, August 27, 2013. [Cited: May 8, 2016.] volokh.com/2013/08/27/natural-born-subjects-natural-born-citizens/.
4. Legal Information
Institute. U.S. Constitution. www.law.cornell.edu/constitution. [Online]
Cornell University Law School. [Cited: June 19, 2012.]
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution.
5. Samples, John.
In Defense of the Electoral College. www.cato.org. [Online] CATO
Institute, November 10, 2000. [Cited: May 7, 2016.]
www.cato.org/publications/commentary/defense-electoral-college.
No comments:
Post a Comment