1. The Presidency on Trial Assessing the Limits of Presidential Power

2. Formal Checks on Presidential Power

3. Congressional Checks on the President (Article I)  Make laws (ex: War Powers Resolution)  Override presidential vetoes  Power to declare war  Power of the purse (taxes and funding)  Regulation of the land and naval forces

4. Congressional Checks (cont.)  Impeachment Power (House)  Impeachment Trial (Senate)  Impeachment Power (House)  Impeachment Trial (Senate) President Clinton’s impeachment trial, January, 1999

5. Limits on Presidential Power (Article II)  President elected indirectly by the people through the Electoral College  Selection of president (House) in case of no majority of electoral vote  President must deliver State of the Union address  Senate approves treaties and ambassadors

6. Limits on Presidential Power (Article II)  Senate approves department appointments  “ Advice and consent ” of federal judge appointments (Senate)  Senate approves department appointments  “ Advice and consent ” of federal judge appointments (Senate) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testifies at her Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing, January, 2005. Nominee for Chief Justice, John Roberts is sworn in at his Senate Judiciary committee confirmation hearing, September, 2005.

7. Judicial Checks on the President  Judicial review (Marbury v. Madison)  Chief Justice presides over presidential impeachment trial (Article I)

8. Constitutional Amendments 12 th – Choosing president & vice- president on separate ballots 20 th – Presidential succession 22 nd – Presidential term limits (2 terms; 10 years total) 25 th – Presidential disability and succession

9. Limits on Presidential Power: Informal Checks

10. Public Opinion In a televised address in March, 1968, President Johnson announced he would not seek the Democratic nomination for president due to sagging public support for his administration and the war in Vietnam. Though he enjoyed record public support during the Persian Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush saw his numbers dip dramatically in the polls and he lost his re-election bid to democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.

11. The Media

12. Partisan Politics Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and vigorous critic of the Bush administration, May, 2005 Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R) battles President Bill Clinton (D) over the national budget resulting in the shutdown of the federal government in 1995

13. Congressional Investigations WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 14: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference about efforts by the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department to combat Medicare fraud at the Justice Department May 14, 2013 in Washington, DC. Holder faced a large number of questions about his department's investigation targeting phone records and data from the Associated Press. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Revealed secret wiretap tapes trouble for Attorney General Eric Holder and DOJ IRS official Lois Lerner is sworn in May 22, 2013, before the House Oversight Committee hearing to investigate the extra scrutiny IRS gave to Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified on the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

14. Interest Groups & NGO’s The National Right to Life Committee and other pro-life interest groups spoke out against President Clinton’s veto of the ban on partial birth abortion, 1996