Marsha Blackburn Quotes

Nothing in the 14th Amendment or in any other constitutional provision suggests that the president may usurp legislative power to prevent a violation of the Constitution.

The constitution has never greatly bothered any wartime President.

When a President asserts constitutional powers he needs to be pretty certain he has those powers.

The President cannot refuse to enforce a law simply because he does not like it.

President Obama has adopted a practice of picking and choosing which laws he wants to enforce. In most cases, his laws of choice conveniently coincide with his administration's political agenda.

[In wartime] there is almost always an overstretch [for power] by the President.

The President [Theodore Roosevelt] has as much use for the Constitution as a tom cat has for a marriage license.

I do not believe that the President has any powers at all except such as the Constitution expressly gives him or such as are necessarily inferred.

The danger of undue power in the President is not, to me, formidable.

The Founders of this Nation entrusted the lawmaking power to the Congress alone in both good and bad times … the President's power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a law-maker.

There are circumstances where the President could fail to follow the will of Congress when doing so would interfere with the core of his responsibilities.

Are you willing to let any President choose what laws to enforce and what laws to change?

Even the country's first president chafed at the limits placed on him by the writers of the U.S. Constitution. From the nature of the Constitution, ... I must approve all the parts of a bill, or reject it in toto.

Outside of the Constitution we have no legal authority more than private citizens, and within it we have only so much as that instrument gives us. This broad principle limits all our functions and applies to all subjects.

My belief was that it was not only the President's right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the nation demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitution or by the laws. Under this interpretation of executive power I did and caused to be done many things not previously done by the President.

If Mr. Roosevelt can do what he likes without consulting Congress, and we give him our boys, God alone knows what he will do with them.

The powers that are surrendered [by Congress] to one President remain to be used by others.

Is there really a way to restrict the powers of the Commander in Chief ... when one man's swiftly pressing the button may be necessary for some degree of national survival?

[I am] against giving the power of war to the Executive, because [he is] not safely to be trusted with it.

The powers conferred by the Constitution upon the Executive enable him to shape the foreign policy of this nation almost independent of the Legislature. A scheming and unscrupulous President can involve the country in serious complications, commit it to an unwise policy, or at least render its foreign diplomacy ridiculous before Congress may have an opportunity to check him.

The reach of judicial power extends only so far as the executive is willing to enforce it.

The presidency is seemingly bound by law, but in practice it can do just about anything it pleases. It can order up troops anywhere in the world

He [the President] has the power, but that does not mean that he has the legitimate, constitutional right to use it.

I'm not for amnesty. People must play by the rules. And border enforcement must come first.

I have never pretended to be a legal scholar, but when scores of lawyers are lining up to agree with the Supreme Court that the president has the power to make choices when it comes to whom to deport and whom to let stay, then I tend to agree with them.