188
votes
Accepted
Why does the pardon of Arpaio show contempt for the rule of law?
tl;dr: Arpaio was sentenced for violating a court order, which ordered him to stop violating the law. In this case, a presidential pardon takes away any recourse the judiciary has, thus circumventing ...
- 36k
158
votes
Accepted
Why does Joe Biden always tweet from @POTUS and not @JoeBiden?
@POTUS, according to Twitter (https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-says-it-is-permanently-suspending-account-of-president-trump-11610148903), is the 'official' account for the Office of the President ...
- 16.4k
114
votes
Why is there no process in the United States to remove and re-elect the President?
One of the main reasons was that the President - even now, never mind in Founding Fathers' time - is not the "head of government", the way Prime Ministers are in Parliamentary systems.
The President ...
- 91.8k
113
votes
Accepted
Why is "president for life" in China such a big deal?
Putin is de facto leader for more than 3 mandates (not much big difference from "for life") and I do not remember to be illustrated so harshly
Consider revisiting your news sources somewhat. There ...
- 30.5k
113
votes
Does the Constitution allow a woman to be President of the United States?
When the US Constitution was written, "he", "him" and similar were used to refer to all persons regardless of sex.
Per Lexico (which claims to use the Oxford English Dictionary as ...
- 4,734
107
votes
Accepted
Have any other US presidents used that tiny table?
That's known as a "signing table". Trump himself has used it before in 2017, and even joked about it himself. Or at least the audience laughed at his comments.
While the seal seems to be a ...
- 144k
106
votes
Accepted
Doesn't the 22nd amendment prevent Donald Trump from running for president again in 2024?
The bolded part doesn't apply to President Trump. Specifically, it includes the following:
of a term to which some other person was elected President
President Trump is only serving in the term to ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
104
votes
During the COVID-19 pandemic, why is it claimed that the US President is making a trade-off of human lives for the economy?
I can't speak for Rebecca's judgement in interpreting those words of Trump, but for instance a NYT article says:
“Our people want to return to work,” Mr. Trump declared Tuesday on Twitter, adding, “...
- 144k
101
votes
Accepted
Can an exiting US president curtail access to Air Force One from the new president?
Air Force One isn't an airplane, it's the callsign for whatever US Air Force airplane the President happens to be flying in. Currently, the airplane most often used as Air Force One is a VC-25A, and ...
- 4,863
100
votes
Accepted
What officially disallows US presidents from driving?
Legally, nothing prevents the U.S. president from performing ordinary activities.
In practice, U.S. presidents try to avoid doing things (like driving) that make it harder for the Secret Service to ...
- 6,812
99
votes
Accepted
How does Donald Trump Jr. benefit from releasing the e-mails he released?
According to CNN, the emails were released by Donald Trump Jr. shortly before they were going to be published by the New York Times. From this article, we read:
Trump Jr. tweeted that he was ...
- 31.2k
86
votes
Accepted
Why does US tend to have rather old leaders (> 60) while more and more European countries have young ones (<40)?
I'm not terribly sure that leaving outliers aside (both Trump and Macron are such) there's that much of a difference, historically, between the major European countries and the US. The Economist ran a ...
- 144k
85
votes
Accepted
Why is the minimum age to be U.S. president still fairly high at 35?
The reason for the founding fathers to do this was in part because they viewed the President as supposed to be an elder statesman who had shown through his career to be reliable in his values and not ...
- 16.1k
83
votes
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Can a US president have someone sent to prison?
In a word: no. The President cannot just order someone to prison.
The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizure except on probable cause of a crime being committed.
The Fifth ...
- 27.8k
83
votes
Does the Constitution allow a woman to be President of the United States?
Male pronouns can be found all over the constitution.
I look at Article I, Section 3:
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a ...
- 27.8k
80
votes
Accepted
Can Vice President Pence be impeached before President Trump?
I don't think "pre-impeach" is the right word because Congress has the power to impeach the VP or any other "civil officer", not just the president.
According to article 2 of the constitution, as ...
- 616
80
votes
Accepted
Could the US military legally refuse to follow a legal, but unethical order?
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (articles 90-92) state that a service member will be subject to court martial if he or she "willfully disobeys a lawful command of that person’s superior ...
- 67.7k
76
votes
What is the point of the president visiting regions struck by hurricane?
To express that he cares and is taking the emergency seriously.
To see what the area's needs are first hand.
Cynically, to garner votes.
During Katrina, George W. Bush was criticized for not ...
- 89.3k
75
votes
Accepted
Why have US Presidents not been given the power of line item vetoes?
It's a good idea if you think the President should have much stronger powers than other branches, and that legislative compromise should be eliminated, as part of the system, altogether.
As much as ...
- 20.8k
75
votes
Accepted
Can a person refuse a presidential pardon?
It is possible to reject a pardon. Referring to United States v. Wilson:
There is nothing peculiar in a pardon which ought to distinguish it in
this respect from other facts; no legal principle ...
- 5,437
73
votes
Is there a legal way for US presidents to extend their terms beyond two terms of four years?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is that this framing isn't particularly helpful.
There are a number of overlapping factors that prevent the president from legally suspending elections like ...
- 2,854
71
votes
Accepted
Is the President of the United States obliged to answer questions in press conferences?
He is not obliged to hold them at all, much less answer questions, or any specific questions.
The only requirement of addressing anyone is the state of the union, and that is not required to be a ...
- 2,657
68
votes
Accepted
Isn't any conversation with the US president quid-pro-quo?
Isn't every conversation with the US president a form of quid-pro-quo?
Possibly, though it depends on what's in the quid pro quo if it matters. In the case of withholding congressional approved ...
JJJ♦
- 38.9k
67
votes
Can a person refuse a presidential pardon?
The question is theoretical. But there's no need to theorize. There's at least one case of a convict successfully rejecting a presidential pardon. The Supreme Court ruled on this case in 1833, saying ...
- 10.4k
66
votes
Accepted
Could Donald Trump reverse Chelsea Manning's commutation?
No.
The power of a Presidential Pardon comes from the Constitution (Article II, Section 2) and there is no provision for undoing it.
- 2,552
66
votes
Why is Hunter Biden's testimony in the impeachment trial relevant?
'Why' questions are inherently difficult, often de-evolving to opinion-mongering. Unless someone in the White House tells us their reasoning explicitly, we could only guess.
However, what we can say ...
- 67.7k
63
votes
Why, in the US, are politicians tried by other politicians?
If I understand correctly, in the United States, charges are currently being brought against President Trump
You understand incorrectly.
It has been asserted that President Trump may have done those ...
- 15.6k
62
votes
Accepted
Why don't US presidents run in other elections after their term ends?
There's several reasons
Courtesy to a colleague - Generally speaking, former Presidents generally refrain from current political commentary. This tends to extend to politics in general, lest they ...
- 45.6k
62
votes
Why would the US President need briefings on UFOs?
An UFO is an Unidentified Flying Object.
Usually the name is not applied when somebody sees a light prop plane overhead and cannot recognize the specific model or registration letters, but what the ...
- 106k
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