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  1. LII
  2. U.S. Constitution Annotated
  3. Article II. Executive Branch

    Article II  Executive Branch

    • Overview of Article II, Executive Branch
      • Section 1 Function and Selection
        • Clause 1 President's Role
          • Overview of Executive Vesting Clause
            • Historical Background on Executive Vesting Clause
              • Early Perspectives on Executive Power
                • The President's Powers, Myers, and Seila
                  • The President's Powers and Youngstown Framework
                    • Separation of Powers and Executive Branch Functions
                      • Major Questions Doctrine and Administrative Agencies
                        • The President's Foreign Affairs Power, Curtiss-Wright, and Zivotofsky
                          • Term of the President
                          • Clause 2 Electors
                            • Overview of Electors Appointment Clause
                              • Historical Background on Electors Appointments Clause
                                • State Discretion Over Selection of Electors
                                  • Legal Status of Electors
                                    • Discretion of Electors to Choose a President
                                    • Clause 3 Electoral College Count
                                      • Electoral College Count Generally
                                      • Clause 4 Electoral Votes
                                        • Timing of Electoral Votes Generally
                                        • Clause 5 Qualifications
                                          • Qualifications for the Presidency
                                          • Clause 6 Succession
                                            • Succession Clause for the Presidency
                                            • Clause 7 Compensation and Emoluments
                                              • Emoluments Clause and Presidential Compensation
                                              • Clause 8 Presidential Oath of Office
                                                • Oath of Office for the Presidency
                                                  • Oath of Office for the Presidency Generally
                                                    • Presidential Oath’s Effect on Executive Power
                                                      • Faithful Execution of the Office
                                                        • Relationship with Article VI Oaths
                                                          • Violation of the Presidential Oath
                                                      • Section 2 Powers
                                                        • Clause 1 Military, Administrative, and Clemency
                                                          • Executive Departments
                                                            • Commander in Chief
                                                              • Historical Background on Commander in Chief Clause
                                                                • Prize Cases and Commander in Chief Clause
                                                                  • Wartime Powers of President in World War II
                                                                    • Evacuation of the West Coast Japanese
                                                                      • The President and Labor Relations in World War II
                                                                        • Presidential Directives and Sanctions in World War II
                                                                          • Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Nazi Saboteurs
                                                                            • World War II War Crimes Tribunals
                                                                              • Postwar Period and Commander in Chief Clause
                                                                                • Use of Troops Overseas and Congressional Authorization
                                                                                  • Presidential Power and Commander in Chief Clause
                                                                                    • Congressional Control Over President's Discretion
                                                                                      • President as Commander of Armed Forces
                                                                                        • Martial Law Generally
                                                                                          • Martial Law in Hawaii
                                                                                            • Martial Law and Domestic Disorder
                                                                                              • Response to Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
                                                                                                • Detention Authority
                                                                                                  • Military Commissions
                                                                                                  • Pardons
                                                                                                    • Overview of Pardon Power
                                                                                                      • Historical Background on Pardon Power
                                                                                                        • Pardon Power and Forms of Clemency Generally
                                                                                                          • Scope of Pardon Power
                                                                                                            • Rejection of a Pardon
                                                                                                              • Legal Effect of a Pardon
                                                                                                                • Congress's Role in Pardons
                                                                                                                  • Presidential Self-Pardons
                                                                                                                    • Types
                                                                                                                      • Pardons Generally
                                                                                                                        • Amnesties
                                                                                                                          • Commutations, Remissions, and Reprieves
                                                                                                                      • Clause 2 Advice and Consent
                                                                                                                        • Treaty-Making Power
                                                                                                                          • Overview of President's Treaty-Making Power
                                                                                                                            • Historical Background on Treaty-Making Power
                                                                                                                              • Scope of Treaty-Making Power
                                                                                                                                • Self-Executing and Non-Self-Executing Treaties
                                                                                                                                  • Congressional Implementation of Treaties
                                                                                                                                    • Interpreting Treaties
                                                                                                                                      • Legal Effect of Treaties on Prior Acts of Congress
                                                                                                                                        • Preemptive Effect of Treaties
                                                                                                                                          • Effect of Treaties on the Constitution
                                                                                                                                            • Breach and Termination of Treaties
                                                                                                                                            • Alternatives to Treaties
                                                                                                                                              • Overview of Alternatives to Treaties
                                                                                                                                                • Legal Basis for Executive Agreements
                                                                                                                                                  • Legal Effect of Executive Agreements
                                                                                                                                                    • State Laws Affecting Foreign Relations
                                                                                                                                                      • Congressional Executive Agreements
                                                                                                                                                      • Appointments
                                                                                                                                                        • Overview of Appointments Clause
                                                                                                                                                          • Historical Background on Appointments Clause
                                                                                                                                                            • Process of Appointment for Principal Officers
                                                                                                                                                              • Ambassadors, Ministers, and Consuls Appointments
                                                                                                                                                                • Appointments of Justices to the Supreme Court
                                                                                                                                                                  • Creation of Federal Offices
                                                                                                                                                                    • Creation of Federal Offices with Blended Features
                                                                                                                                                                      • Federal Versus Territorial Officers
                                                                                                                                                                        • Restrictions on Congress's Authority
                                                                                                                                                                          • Officer and Non-Officer Appointments
                                                                                                                                                                            • Departments Heads and Courts of Law
                                                                                                                                                                              • Changing the Duties of an Existing Officer
                                                                                                                                                                                • Interbranch Appointments
                                                                                                                                                                                  • Principal and Inferior Officers
                                                                                                                                                                                    • Overview of Principal and Inferior Officers
                                                                                                                                                                                      • Early Doctrine on Principal and Inferior Officers
                                                                                                                                                                                        • Modern Doctrine on Principal and Inferior Officers
                                                                                                                                                                                        • Removals
                                                                                                                                                                                          • Overview of Removal of Executive Branch Officers
                                                                                                                                                                                            • Decision of 1789 and Removals in Early Republic
                                                                                                                                                                                              • Removals in Jacksonian America Through the Nineteenth Century
                                                                                                                                                                                                • Removals in the 1920s
                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Removals in the 1930s
                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Later Twentieth Century Cases on Removal
                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Twenty-First Century Cases on Removal
                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Clause 3 Senate Recess
                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Overview of Recess Appointments Clause
                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Recess Appointments of Article III Judges
                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Section 3 Duties
                                                                                                                                                                                                      • The President's Legislative Role
                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Head of State
                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Early Doctrine on Receiving Ambassadors and Public Ministers
                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Specific Cases on Receiving Ambassadors and Public Ministers
                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Modern Doctrine on Receiving Ambassadors and Public Ministers
                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Enforcer of Laws
                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Overview of Take Care Clause
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Who Can Fulfill the Take Care Duty
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Relationship Between Take Care Clause and President's Removal Power
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Removal Power as the President's Primary Means of Supervision
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Interpretations of Law as Part of the President's Take Care Duties
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • The President's Take Care Duties and International Law
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Impounding Appropriated Funds
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Executive Privilege
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Overview of Executive Privilege
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Defining Executive Privileges
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • State Secrets Privilege
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Presidential Communications Privilege Generally
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Congressional Access to Presidential Information
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Prosecutorial and Grand Jury Access to Presidential Information
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Statutory Requirements and Communications Privilege
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Separation of Powers and Communications Privilege
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Former Presidents and Communications Privilege
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Deliberative Process and Law Enforcement Privileges
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Presidential Immunity
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Presidential Immunity to Suits and Official Conduct
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Presidential Immunity to Suits and Unofficial Conduct
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Qualified Immunity Doctrine
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Criminal Prosecution, Presidential Immunity and Former Presidents
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • Section 4 Impeachment
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Overview of Impeachment Clause
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Offices Eligible for Impeachment
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • Future of Impeachment Remedy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • Overview of Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Historical Background on Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Jurisprudence on Impeachable Offenses (1789–1860)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      • President Andrew Johnson and Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        • Jurisprudence on Impeachable Offenses (1865–1900)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          • Early Twentieth Century Jurisprudence on Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            • President Richard Nixon and Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • President Bill Clinton and Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                • President Donald Trump and Impeachable Offenses
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  • Judicial Impeachments

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              U.S. Constitution Annotated Toolbox

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              • Explanation of the Constitution - from the Congressional Research Service


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