Can The President Do That?

During his convention speech in 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump proclaimed, "Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it." Not congress, nor the courts, nor the states or any other institution we vest with power. Just a would-be President Trump. 

The bounds of presidential power have been defined and redefined since the nation's founding. George Washington and Alexander Hamilton sparred with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison over then-President Washington's view that he, not congress, could decide whether to engage in a foreign war.  

Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus because, he argued, it was necessary to snuff out rebellion in order to win the Civil War. An executive order from Franklin Delano Roosevelt made it US policy to intern Japanese people and their descendants during World War II, even though nearly two thirds of those jailed were American citizens.

When congress failed to act on immigration, President Barack Obama's executive action created the DACA program for children brought to the United States illegally by their parents. President Trump unilaterally redirected military funds to build a wall on the southern border, after congress declined to fund it.

Major Garrett explores presidential power and its limits, uses and abuses. Can the president do that? 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.