tonnage: State Tonnage Cases, 12 Wall. 204; Peete v. Morgan, 19 Id. 581. - States not to enter into compacts with each other or with foreign powers. These words are used in their broadest sense; they were intended to cut off all negotiation and intercourse between the state authorities and foreign nations: Holmes v. Jennison, 14 Pet. 572, 574. No state can, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agreement or compact, to deliver up fugitives from justice from a foreign state, who may be found within its limits: Holmes v. Jennison, supra; 3 Opin. 661; In re Doo Woon, 9 Saw. 436. This prohibition is political in its character, and has no reference to a mere matter of con tract, or the grant of a franchise, March 4, 1789. ARTICLE II. SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in a Executive power of PresiPresident of the United States of America. He shall dent." hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows: President and dent. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legis- Electors of lature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to Vice-Presi the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. and annulled amendment. [The electors shall meet in their respective states, and Suspended vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall by the 12th not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the Senate. The president of the Senate. shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest num March 4, 1783. ber of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list, the said house shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote. A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice-President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them, by ballot, the Vice-President.]1 Tine of choos ing the elec tors, and the day of their voting. Qualifications for the office of President. Vacancy in the office of Presi plied. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States. No person, except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. In case of the removal of the President from office, or dent, how sup- of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and 1 That portion of this section prescribing the duties and proceedings of the electors, and which is inclosed in brackets, is superseded by the Twelfth Amendment. such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be March 4, 1789. removed, or a President shall be elected. of President. The President shall, at stated times, receive for his Compensation services a compensation which shall neither be increased. nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them. of President. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall Oath of office take the following oath or affirmation:-"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States." Functions of President. - An act done by one President, vesting a right in another person, is not subject to review or reversal by his successor: 6 Opin. 603. The President cannot control a statute, nor dispense with its execution: Kendall v. United States, 12 Pet. 523. Nor authorize a secretary to omit the performance of an act enjoined by law: Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137. Nor suspend the writ of habeas corpus without au thority from Congress: McCall v. The time of choosing electors, duties of the SECTION 2. The President shall be commander-in- Powers and chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of President. the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall appoint, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all other officers. of the United States, whose appointments are not herein March 4, 1799. otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which shall expire at the end of their next session. Pardons. The power conferred on the President of granting pardons is unlimited, except in case of impeachment, and is not subject to legislative control: Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 334. He may pardon as well before trial and conviction as afterwards: 6 Opin. 20; and after the expiration of the imprisonment, which forms a part of the sentence: Stetler's Case, Phila. 302. He may grant a conditional pardon: Ex parte Wells, 18 How. 307; 1 Opin. 341. Provided the condition be compatible with the genius of our constitution and laws: i Id. 482. Where the condition is such that the government has no power to carry it into effect, the pardon will be in effect unconditional: 5 Id. 368; Flavell's Case, 8 Watts & S. 197; United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 161; People v. Potter, 1 Park. Cr. 47. The pardoning power includes that of remitting fines, penalties, and forfeitures, under the revenue laws: United States v. Morris, 10 Wheat. 246; McLane v. United States, 6 Pet. 404; 2 Opin. 329; the passenger laws: 6 Id. 393, the laws prohibiting the slave trade: 4 Id. 573; fines imposed on defaulting jurors: 3 Id. 317; 4 Id. 458; for a contempt of court: 3 Id. 622; and in criminal cases: 3 Id. 418. But the President has no power to remit the forfeiture of a bail bond: 4 Id. 144. Nor, it seems, can he, by a pardon, defeat a legal interest or right, which has become vested in a private citizen; as, for example, the vested right of an officer making a seizure: United States v. Lancaster, 4 Wash. C. C. 64; 4 Opin. 576; 6 Id. 615; 5 Id. 532, 570; Ünited States v. Harris, 9 Int. Rev. Rec. 21; The Magaretta, 2 Gall. 515. The grant of the pardoning power neither requires nor authorizes the President to reexamine the case upon new facts; nor to grant a pardon upon the assumption of the new facts alleged. To do either would be an abuse of that power: 1 Opin. 359. A pardon is a private though official act; it must be delivered to and accepted by the criminal, and cannot be noticed by the court, unless brought before it judicially, by plea, motion, or otherwise: United States v. Wilson, 7 Pet. 150. The President alone can pardon offenses committed in a territory in violation of acts of Congress: 7 Opin. 561. He has power to order a nolle prosequi in any stage of a criminal proceeding in the name of the United States: 5 Id. 729. A pardon granted upon condition blots out the offense if proof is made of compliance with the condition: United States v. Klein, 13 Wall. 128. Appointments to office. The nomination and appointment are voluntary acts, and distinct from the commissioning: Marbury v. Madison, 1 Cranch, 155, 156. Even after confirmation, the President may, in his discretion, withhold a commission; and until a commission has been signed, the appointment is not fully consummated: 4 Opin. 218. The Senate cannot originate an appointment; its constitutional action is confined to a simple affirmation or rejection of the President's nominations; and such nominations fail whenever it disagrees to them: 3 Opin. 188. The power of the President to appoint to office necessarily includes the power of removal, where the constitution has not otherwise provided. He may remove a territorial judge: 5 Opin. 288; 3 Id. 673; 4 Id. 603, 608, 609; 4 Elliott's Debates, 350; Ex parte Hennen, 13 Pet. 259. But as to the power of removal where the tenure is fixed by Congress, see United States v. Guthrie, 17 How. 284. He may cause a military officer to be stricken from the rolls, without a trial by court-martial, notwithstanding a decision in his favor by a court of inquiry: 4 Opin. 1; see 2 Story's Com., sec. 538. An appointment, confirmed by the Senate, is complete when the commission is signed and sealed: United States v. Le Baron, 19 How. 73. The President cannot make a removal without the consent of the Senate or in pursuance of authority conferred by Congress: United States v. Avery, 1 Deady, 204. The authority to appoint ambassadors, etc., gives him power to appoint diplomatic agents of any rank, at any place or time, in his discretion, subject to the approbation of the Senate, and this power cannot be limited by act of Congress: 7 Opin. 186. The effect of this and other March 4, 1789. clauses in the constitution on the subject of appointments to office is to declare that all offices under the federal government, except where the constitution may otherwise provide, shall be established by law: United States v. Maurice, 2 Brock. 96. Clerks of courts are such officers; and in such cases the power of removal is incident to the power of appointment: Ex parte Hennen, 13 Pet. 230, 259. He may fill, during a recess of the Senate, a vacancy that occurred by expiration of a commission during a previous session: 1 Opin. 631. So he may fill a vacancy which has occurred by the expiration of a former temporary appointment, the Senate having neglected to act on a nomination to fill the office: 3 Opin. 673; 4 Id. 523; 2 Id. 525. See 4 Id. 361. The commission of an officer appointed during a recess, who is afterwards nominated and rejected, is not thereby determined; it continues in force to the end of the next session, unless sooner determined by the President: 2 Opin. 366; 4 Id. 30. ident. SECTION 3. He shall from time to time give to the Duties of PresCongress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States. Take care that the laws be faithfully executed. As incident to this power, he has authority to appoint agents to make investigations required by acts of Congress, but cannot pay them without an appropriation: 4 Opin. 248. It is not, in general, judicious for him, in the exercise of this power, to interfere with the functions of subordinate officers, further than to remove them for any neglect or abuse of their official trust: SECTION 4. The President, Vice-President, and all Removal on civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from impeachment. |