Administrative Powers of the President

Authors

John A. Fairlie, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

It is the purpose of this paper to discuss, with some effort at systematic classification the powers of the President of the United States, through which he maintains an effective and responsible control over the whole federal administration. The position of the President in this respect offers a striking contrast to that of the state governors, which is not always fully appreciated in comparisons of the state and federal governments; and an analysis of the President's authority may well suggest some inquiry as to the relative merits of the centralized executive of the federal government, and the decentralized and unorganized executive branch of the state governments. It is significant, also, that the recent tendency in municipal organization in this country is toward placing the mayor in a position of equal, if not greater, power and responsibility than the President. This tendency, and the evident need for some better organization of the state executives, added to the importance of the subject itself, would seem to make worth while a careful examination of the President's authority. To avoid any possible misunderstanding, it may be well to state distinctly at the outset that it is not proposed to consider the entire scope of Presidential authority. Those constitutional powers by which the President exercises some control over the meetings of Congress and over congressional legislation are purposely omitted; nd the discussion is confined to his powers of an administrative character.

Recommended Citation

John A. Fairlie, Administrative Powers of the President, 2 Mich. L. Rev. 191 (1903).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol2/iss3/2