Notice that the textbook gives examples on pages 360-363 of presidents either making up laws that Congress did not write or ignoring laws that Congress did write, e.g., President G.W. Bush adding “signing statements” to his signature of Congressional bills that invalidated more than one thousand provisions in bills that Congress had passed.
Our discussion topic this week is twofold:
1) Can you think of any other examples where, from your perspective, this Article II Section 3 Constitutional duty may not have been met (i.e., that the president is NOT taking care that the laws be faithfully executed)?
2) If this kind of thing is indeed happening, then what might be the short-term and long-term effects of a president and his executive branch agencies (the bureaucracy) operating without regard to the checks and balances built into the Constitution?
The following textbook is required for this course: “American Government: the essentials, by Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt”