May 02, 2019 · Now House Democrats have threatened to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress. So how much power does Congress actually have to force Barr's hand here? To help us answer that question ...
After long experience with the clumsy, time consuming private bill procedure, Congress made a deliberate choice to delegate to the Executive Branch, and specifically to the Attorney General, the authority to allow deportable aliens to remain in this country in certain specified circumstances.
Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution declares that “all legislative Powers” are “vested in a Congress of the United States.”. Congress is the central law-making body to which the executive and judicial branches respond. Congress writes and debates the laws that govern the United States, and it can override presidential vetoes. The Senate’s advice-and-consent power over …
Congress has implied powers derived from clauses such as the General Welfare Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and the Commerce Clause and from its legislative powers. Congress has exclusive authority over financial and budgetary matters, through the enumerated power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for …
Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court agreed with Chadha. The Court noted that the Constitution requires that all legislation be passed by both houses of Congress and that it then be presented to the President for signature or veto. The Court regarded this “presentment” power as extremely important: “The decision to provide the President with a limited and qualified power to nullify proposed legislation by veto was based on the profound conviction of the Framers that the powers conferred on Congress were the powers to be most carefully circumscribed.” The presidential function “in the lawmaking process also reflects the Framers’ careful efforts to check whatever propensity a particular Congress might have to enact oppressive, improvident, or ill-considered measures.”
. reveals that it was essentially legislative in purpose and effect. In purporting to exercise power defined in Art. I, § 8, cl. 4 to “establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization,” the House took action that had the purpose and effect of altering the legal rights, duties and relations of persons, including the Attorney General, Executive Branch officials and Chadha, all outside the legislative branch. . . . The one-House veto operated in this case to overrule the Attorney General and mandate Chadha’s deportation; absent the House action, Chadha would remain in the United States. Congress has acted and its action has altered Chadha’s status. . . .
Outcome: No. The “one-house veto” violates the concept of separation of powers.
In addition to the explicit powers enumerated in Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress also has additional implied powers derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution, which permits it,
Of all the powers of Congress, none is more important than its enumerated power to make laws.
Through the Supreme Court’s many interpretations of the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Commerce Clause—the enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce—such as McCulloch v Maryland, the true range of the lawmaking powers of Congress extends far beyond those enumerated in Section 8.
Other powers not specifically listed in Section 8, but assumed to exist , are called “ implied powers .". Not only does the Constitution define Congress' powers in relation to the judicial and executive branches, it also places limits on it concerning power delegated to the individual states.
Congress is one of three co-equal branches of the federal government, along with the judicial branch, represented by the courts, and the executive branch, represented by the presidency. The powers of the United States Congress are set forth in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution .
Congressional representatives are elected to two-year terms, and the Speaker of the House is second in line to succeed the president after the vice president .
The Senate is responsible for confirming presidential appointments of Cabinet members, federal judges, and foreign ambassadors. The Senate also tries any federal official accused of a crime, once the House determines that a trial is in order.
The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United Stateson all legal matters. The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States.
The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the president of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments". Some of these duties have since been transferred to the United States solicitor general and the White House counsel .
Attorney General is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule, thus earning a salary of US$ 221,400, as of January 2021.
Gerson was fourth in the line of succession at the Justice Department, but other senior DOJ officials had already resigned.[14] Janet Reno, President Clinton's nominee for attorney general, was confirmed on March 12,[15]and he resigned the same day.
For example, upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch left her position, so then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who had also tendered her resignation, was asked to stay on to serve as the acting attorney general until the confirmation of the new attorney general Jeff Sessions, who had been nominated for the office in November 2016 by then- President-elect Donald Trump.
Presidential transition[edit] It is the practice for the attorney general, along with the other Cabinet secretaries and high-level political appointees of the President, to tender a resignation with effect on the Inauguration Day(January 20) of a new president.
Congress is the central law-making body to which the executive and judicial branches respond . Congress writes and debates the laws that govern the United States, and it can override presidential vetoes. The Senate’s advice-and-consent power over treaties and both chambers’ important role in amending the Constitution also indicate the legislature’s essential role in the nation’s representative government.
The Senate’s advice-and-consent power over treaties and both chambers’ important role in amending the Constitution also indicate the legislature’s essential role in the nation’s representative government.
Powers of the United States Congress are implemented by the United States Constitution, defined by rulings of the Supreme Court, and by its own efforts and by other factors such as history and custom. It is the chief legislative body of the United States. Some powers are explicitly defined by the Constitution and are called enumerated powers;
Main article: Enumerated powers. Article I of the Constitution sets forth most of the powers of Congress, which include numerous explicit powers enumerated in Section 8. Additional powers are granted by other articles and by Constitutional amendments .
Article III Section 2 allows Congress to create exceptions and regulations to the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and to make laws directing the place of trials of crimes committed outside of a state. Section 3 grants Congress the power "to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person at-tainted.”
Congress delegated department regulation powers to the Department of Justice when it allowed the special prosecutor provisions of the Ethics in Government Act to expire in 1999. Since then, the Justice Department creates its own regulations on special counsels.
The Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution permits Congress "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof." Broad interpretations of this clause have effectively widened the scope of Congress' legislative authority, such as in McCulloch v Maryland, which held that Congress has the power to establish a central bank.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment gave Congress the power to determine what body can declare the president unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office and the power to decide whether the president shall resume the powers and duties of the office whenever the president and the body are in conflict.
The Thirteenth (1865), Fourteenth (1868), and Fifteenth Amendments (1870) gave Congress authority to enact legislation to enforce rights of all citizens regardless of race, including voting rights, due process, and equal protection under the law.
The Constitution specifically grants Congress its most important power — the authority to make laws. A bill, or proposed law, only becomes a law after both the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved it in the same form. The two houses share other powers, many of which are listed in Article I, Section 8.
Section 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Special, exclusive powers given to the Senate include the following: 1 Major presidential appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. The Senate offers " advice and consent " to the President by a majority vote on the appointments of federal judges, ambassadors, and Cabinet positions. 2 Treaties with other nations entered into by the President must be approved by a two-thirds vote by the Senate. This provision is an illustration of checks and balances, and it has served as a very important restriction to foreign policy powers of the President. 3 An impeachment trial occurs in the Senate. If the House votes to impeach an elected official, the accused party gets a hearing in the Senate. A two-thirds majority can convict the individual and remove him or her from office.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
The "elastic," or implied powers, clause gives Congress the authority to pass laws it deems "necessary and proper" to carry out its enumerated functions. Many Congressional powers that have evolved over the years are based on this important clause. Here are a couple. Oversight of the budget.
These include the power to declare war, coin money, raise an army and navy, regulate commerce, establish rules of immigration and naturalization, and establish the federal courts and their jurisdictions.
Founders controlled power not only by checks from the other branches, but by creating a bicameral, or two house, Congress — the Sen ate and the House of Representatives. The powers of Congress, then, are both constitutional and evolutionary.
In the Virginia convention, John Marshall observed if Congress “were to make a law not warranted by any of the powers enumerated, it would be considered by the judge as an infringement of the Constitution which they are to guard . . .” Marshall also told the delegates that if such law were made the court would have little choice but to void it.
The court has the right and duty of “judicial review.” In the American system, the power of the Court to review the legislative and executive acts is a primary part of the separation of and balance of power. This goes back to the most famous case on the topic: Marbury v. Madison. In this case the Supreme Court used its power to strike down an act of Congress as inconsistent with the Constitution. In so doing the Court established firmly that the acts of Congress would be subject to review, when properly challenged, by the Supreme Court, and thereby by the lower federal courts.
The Supreme Court hears cases that are brought before it. It rules on the merits of the case. Your question is misguided because the court doesn’t have any management role (implied by overrule ) in your scenario.
It was overruled in 2003 by Lawrence v. Texas, which states: " Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today. It ought not to remain binding precedent. Bowers v. Hardwick should be and now is overruled."
Long and short of it, the Supreme Court has the authority and the duty to review those acts by the government which may be unconstitutional or otherwise violated federal law. They may not do it on their own volition but must wait, according to long standing rule, for an actual “case in controversy” to arise from the system.
Overrule them? No. They are the executive branch, and the judicial branch is not superior to them, and has no right to exercise any executive authority. But it can decide that something the president or the AG has done is illegal, and order them to stop doing it; whether they must obey such an order is an open question. But if they bring any case before a court which the judicial branch believes to be inconsistent with the law, it can dismiss it.