Enumeration of Powers

My copy of the US Constitution.

With all of the overreaching of the Executive Branch lately, I wanted to get out my copy of the U.S. Constitution (pictured above) and do a quick dive into which branch has what powers. This will be helpful in understanding of how our government is supposed to work. What type of government we have/had here in America is called a democratic republic, where ‘we the people’ govern ourselves under the living document, the United States Constitution. 

In this living document, we see that there is a preamble, 7 Articles of Confederation (which is what it was called between 1777 and 1788) that were signed by the Founding Fathers on June 21, 1788 making it the U.S. Constitution. And of course the 27 Amendments that have been added since the document was first written, the first 10 of which are the Bill of Rights, which I will cover very soon as we may need to know every single one of our rights before too long.

If you want the briefest of overviews in how the three branches of government work together, see the following statement: The Legislative Branch writes the law; the Executive Branch executes the law; and the Judicial Branch interprets the law.

Legislative Branch

The U.S. Congress, both the Senate and the House of Representatives, are given several powers and responsibilities in Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution. I want to highlight the biggies so we can talk about them in the context of our current situation.

Congress has the “power of the purse” aka they can “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, Pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence.”Congress can borrow money on the credit of the United States. Congress regulates commerce with foreign nations, coins money and regulates its value, and even provides punishment for counterfeiters. All of these executive orders aren’t going to mean anything if Congress doesn’t give the money to pay for it.

Another thing I’d like to point out is that one of Congress’s powers is “To establish Post Offices and post Roads.” The Postal Service has been a dedicated part of our country since even before the beginning of this country, but now Trump wants to privatize it. Hands off our U.S. Postal Service!! Stop breaking things that aren’t broken!

Congress also has the power “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” which means they are to create a process for becoming a U.S. citizen. But now since oligarchs can by a gold VISA or gold “green” card for only $5 million, the process is even more unfair than it ever has been. If you count the exorbitant wait times, difficulty getting people on the phone, etc., it seems to be a frustrating process for everyone involved. It was difficult before Trump got into office, but I’m guessing it’s an extra nightmare now, for those without the extra cash to buy their way in. 

Congress (and only Congress!!!) has the power “To declare War.” I worry Trump will just declare war because he feels like burning the world down and we’re all gonna suffer.

Executive Branch

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution outlines how the President is to be elected, which is for a term of no more than four years. The 22nd Amendment, ratified February 27, 1951, brought about by FDR, who had three terms of four years in office. He and the country decided two terms was plenty for any president and it was ratified into the U.S. Constitution. Section 1 also lays out the Electoral College and how that was supposed to work because technology was such at the time it’d be impossible to count all the votes in a timely manner. So, we are still using the antiquated Electoral College, which I personally think we could do without. It also says in that section that Congress determines the time and place the elections will take place throughout the U.S.

Other presidential qualifications include: Only people who are natural-born citizens of the U.S. and are 35 years-old or older can be President and have lived for 14 years as a resident here. The VP can take over if he passes away during office or becomes unable to do his job. That’s a terrifying thought [shudders]. The President will receive a salary which will stay the same during his term and can only be altered by Congress. 

The President is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but ours has expressed disdain for our military and Veterans time and time again. It makes me sick to hear it. And oh! Look at that! He can also can grant pardons “for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” He sure pardoned those January 6 traitors quickly! He did say he would take care of them and he did (yikes). He also can give the State of the Union speech every year, and tell us what else he plans to wreck while he’s president.

The most important thing, I think, is that he or she says this when taking the Office of the President, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” I see a certain president, VP, and Speaker at this moment would please do this instead of the opposite.

And my new favorite section of this Article is Section 4 because it says that, “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” WHY HAS THIS NOT HAPPENED YET? Do you not see the rampant crimes happening right now under his watch? He cited an insurrection on January 6, 2021 and then didn’t stop it while it was happening and people died. Then he pardoned those people. That alone should disallow him from ever holding public office, EVER, not even including the craziness of his term so far.

Judicial Branch

Article III, Section 1 establishes the courts and says that the “judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Judicial power extends to all cases under the law, according to Section 2, including “treaties," “cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls,” “to all cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction,” where the U.S. is a party in the case, and cases between two or more states. Unfortunately for us, Trump stacked the Supreme Court and we are stuck with these judges for the rest of their lives.

There is a whole Judicial System but it’s not all delineated in the Constitution. For more information on court systems, please consult your state’s website.

On that note, after an especially long post, stay rude, my friends!