The American President and Vice-President: election, powers, veto and impeachment

1. A real executive

Article II vests “the executive Power” in a President. Unlike the British monarch or the Indian President, the American President governs in his own right. The heads of departments (the Cabinet) are his subordinates, chosen by him with Senate approval, and not members of Congress. Laski, in The American Presidency (1940), described the office as both more and less than a king, and more and less than a prime minister.

2. Qualifications, tenure and re-election

• A natural-born citizen, at least 35 years of age, resident in the United States for fourteen years.
• Term of four years, beginning at noon on 20 January (Twentieth Amendment, 1933).
• Twenty-second Amendment (1951): no one may be elected President more than twice. It followed Franklin Roosevelt’s four elections (1932–44), which broke Washington’s two-term tradition.
• Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967): on death, resignation or removal the Vice-President becomes President; it also provides for filling a vacancy in the vice-presidency and for presidential disability.

3. Election procedure

The President is elected indirectly, through the electoral college, although in practice the contest is national and popular.

1. Primaries and caucuses (January to June of election year): party voters in each state choose delegates pledged to candidates.
2. National conventions (summer): each party formally nominates its presidential and vice-presidential candidates and adopts a platform.
3. Campaign and general election: held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Voters in each state in fact vote for a slate of electors pledged to a candidate.
4. Electoral college: each state has electors equal to its total of Representatives and Senators; the District of Columbia has three (Twenty-third Amendment). Total 538; a candidate needs 270. In 48 states the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote takes all its electors; Maine and Nebraska divide theirs by district.
5. Electors vote in their states in December; Congress counts the votes in January.
6. No majority: the House of Representatives chooses from the top three, each state delegation casting one vote (Twelfth Amendment). The Senate chooses the Vice-President from the top two. The House last chose a President in 1825.

Criticism. A candidate can win the electoral college while losing the national popular vote, as in 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016. Small states are over-weighted, and campaigns concentrate on a few swing states. Defenders say the system protects federalism and produces clear results.

4. Powers and functions

1. Executive. Enforces federal law; directs the departments and agencies; appoints about 4,000 officials, senior ones (ambassadors, judges, Cabinet secretaries) with the advice and consent of the Senate; removes executive officers; issues executive orders.
2. Military. Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Congress declares war, but Presidents have committed forces without a declaration many times; the War Powers Resolution 1973 tried to limit this.
3. Foreign affairs. Recognises foreign governments, negotiates treaties (ratified by two-thirds of the Senate), and makes executive agreements, which need no Senate approval.
4. Legislative. Has no right to introduce bills or attend Congress, but gives the State of the Union message and other messages, recommends measures, submits the budget, calls special sessions, and has the veto.
5. Judicial. Appoints federal judges; grants reprieves and pardons for federal offences, except in impeachment.
6. Party leader and leader of the nation. The office’s informal powers often matter most: Theodore Roosevelt’s “bully pulpit”.

5. The presidential veto

• Regular (qualified) veto. The President may return a bill with objections within ten days (Sundays excepted). Congress may override by a two-thirds vote in each House. Overrides are rare.
• Pocket veto. If Congress adjourns within those ten days and the President does not sign, the bill dies and cannot be overridden.
• No item veto. Congress gave the President a line-item veto in 1996, but the Supreme Court held it unconstitutional in Clinton v. City of New York (1998). The President must accept or reject a bill as a whole.
• The threat of a veto is itself a bargaining tool with Congress.

6. Removal: impeachment

The President, Vice-President and civil officers may be removed on impeachment for, and conviction of, “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”.

• The House of Representatives impeaches (frames charges) by a simple majority.
• The Senate tries the case; when the President is tried, the Chief Justice presides. Conviction needs two-thirds of the Senators present.
• Penalty: removal and disqualification from office; ordinary criminal liability remains.
• Presidents impeached: Andrew Johnson (1868), Bill Clinton (1998) and Donald Trump (2019 and 2021). All were acquitted. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the House voted.

7. The Vice-President

• Same qualifications as the President; elected with the President on a joint ticket through the electoral college, for four years.
• President of the Senate, with only a casting vote in a tie. Day-to-day the Senate is chaired by the President pro tempore or junior Senators.
• Successor: the Vice-President becomes President on a vacancy. Nine have done so, most recently Gerald Ford on Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
• Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the Vice-President with a majority of the Cabinet may declare the President unable to discharge his duties and act as President.
• Once regarded as a minor office, the vice-presidency has grown in weight as Presidents have given it real assignments.

How this is examined

Expect either the election of the President (short note, February 2025) or the powers and position of the President as an essay, often framed as “the most powerful elected executive in the world”. For the election, give the stages in order and the 270 figure. For powers, use the six heads above, then the limits: Senate confirmation and treaty power, the veto override, congressional control of money, judicial review and impeachment.