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What a President Actually Does

The American Story · 9 min

What a President Actually Does

The president cannot write a law, cannot spend a dollar Congress has not approved, and cannot decide a single court case. So what is the job actually made of?

Start with the job, not the person

Ask a room of people what the president does and you will hear some version of runs the country.

It is worth being precise instead, because the precise answer is more interesting. The office comes with a short written list of real powers — and a matching list of things the office simply cannot do on its own, no matter who is holding it.

Both lists are in the Constitution. Neither list has changed much since 1789. And the second list is not a flaw in the design. It is the design.

What the office can do

Article II is short — much shorter than Article I, which is about Congress. Here is most of what it hands the president:

Sign a bill into law, or veto it. When Congress passes a bill it goes to the president, who has ten days (Sundays excepted) to sign it or send it back.
Command the armed forces. The president is Commander in Chief.
Nominate people. Judges, cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, the heads of federal agencies.
Grant pardons. For offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
Negotiate treaties with other countries.
Run the executive branch — the departments and agencies that carry out laws already on the books.

That is genuine power, and it is not small. Now read the list again and notice how many of those items end in a comma rather than a full stop.

Nominate — but somebody else confirms. Negotiate a treaty — but somebody else approves it. Veto — but somebody else can override it. Almost every power in the list has a partner attached.

What the office cannot do alone

This is the part most people skip, and it is the part that explains almost every news story you will ever read about a president.

Write a law. Article I opens by giving all legislative powers to Congress. A president can ask for a law, argue for it, and sign it. Never write it.
Spend money Congress has not approved. Article I says no money comes out of the Treasury except by an appropriation made in law. Congress holds the purse; the president holds the pen.
Decide a court case. Courts decide cases. A president who disagrees with a ruling is a person who disagrees with a ruling.
Declare war. Article I gives that to Congress. The last formal declarations of war by Congress came in 1942.
Stay past two elected terms. The 22nd Amendment, ratified February 27, 1951, made that a rule rather than a custom.

So the honest one-sentence version of the job is not the person in charge.

A president is one of three branches, holding a specific set of powers, most of which need somebody else to say yes.

Alone, or needs a yes?

Here are nine things a president might want to do. Some need nobody's permission. Some are dead on arrival without another branch agreeing. Sort each one and read why.

Tap an item, then tap where it belongs

Can do this alone

Needs someone else to agree

Check yourself

A president wants something done and does not want to wait for anyone. Which of these could they simply do?

Four times the limits actually held

These are not opinions about whether the president was right. Each row is a thing that happened, on a date, with a recorded vote. Two of these presidents were Democrats and two were Republicans, and the four are spread across 67 years — because the point is the pattern, not the person.

1920The Senate. Treaty not approved.

President Woodrow Wilson signed the Treaty of Versailles and asked the Senate to approve it. On March 19, 1920 the Senate voted 49 in favour, 35 against — a clear majority, but a treaty needs two-thirds.

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Check yourself

In all four of those moments, what actually stopped the president?

The veto, and the number that goes with it

The veto is the president's biggest lever over what becomes law, and it comes with its own escape hatch.

A vetoed bill goes back to Congress. If two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate vote for it again, it becomes law anyway and the president's objection is simply on the record.

Here is how that has actually gone since 1789. Presidents have issued 2,599 vetoes in total — 1,533 sent back to Congress and 1,066 pocket vetoes, where a bill dies unsigned at the end of a session. Congress has overridden 112 of them.

So the veto usually holds — but not always, and every president knows the override number when deciding whether to use it. The single biggest user of the veto was Franklin Roosevelt, with 635 across twelve years. Congress overrode nine.

Check yourself

A president vetoes a bill. What has to happen for that exact bill to become law anyway?

Four things to keep

01The powers are a short, written list. Sign or veto, command the armed forces, nominate, pardon, negotiate treaties, run the executive branch. That is most of Article II.
02Most of them need a second yes. Nominations need the Senate. Treaties need two-thirds of it. A veto can be overridden by two-thirds of both chambers.
03Three things are simply not the job. Writing law, spending money Congress has not approved, and deciding court cases belong to other branches entirely.
04The limits are the design. 1920, 1952, 1974, 1987 — different presidents, different parties, same result. When a limit held, the machine was working.

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Where these figures come from

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution: Commander in Chief; power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment; power to make treaties with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senators present; power to nominate officers and judges with the advice and consent of the Senate (Constitution Annotated, congress.gov). Article I, Section 1 (all legislative powers vested in Congress), Section 7 (ten days, Sundays excepted, for the president to sign or return a bill; two-thirds of both chambers to override), Section 8 (Congress declares war), Section 9 (no money drawn from the Treasury but by appropriations made by law). 22nd Amendment ratified February 27, 1951, limiting a president to two elected terms (National Archives). Veto totals since 1789: 1,533 regular vetoes plus 1,066 pocket vetoes = 2,599 total, of which 112 were overridden. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued 635 vetoes, 9 overridden — the most of any president (U.S. Senate, Summary of Bills Vetoed, senate.gov). Treaty of Versailles: the Senate's final vote on March 19, 1920 was 49 in favour to 35 against, short of the two-thirds required, and the treaty was not approved (U.S. Senate, 'Senate Rejects the Treaty of Versailles'). Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, decided June 2, 1952: the Supreme Court held 6-3 that President Truman's seizure of the steel mills was not authorized (Justia; Legal Information Institute). United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, decided July 24, 1974: the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 (Justice Rehnquist not participating) that the president had to produce the subpoenaed tapes (Justia). Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court was rejected by the Senate 42-58 on October 23, 1987 (National Constitution Center). Congress has formally declared war eleven times, across five wars, the last of the declarations in 1942 (U.S. Senate; House History).