Presidential Discretion Quotes

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

I would prefer to let the president make the decisions that the president needs to make.

The president and the executive branch are always going to have greater latitude and greater authority when it comes to protecting America because sometimes you just have to respond quickly and not everything that is a danger can be publicized and be subject to open debate, but there have to be some guardrails.

The civil list is so large that a personal knowledge of any large number of the applicants is impossible. The President must rely upon the representations of others, and these are often made inconsiderately and without any just sense of responsibility.

The Executive [Abraham Lincoln] is frequently compelled to affix his signature to bills of the highest importance, much of which he regards as wholly at war with the national interests.

What do we do with a president who can basically change what Congress passed by attaching a letter saying I don't agree with this part or that part?

Unless a president can protect the privacy of the advice he gets, he cannot get the advice he needs.

[President Jimmy Carter] had so much going for him. He was elected without any real commitments.... To come in with no commitments gives a President a marvelous, broad flexible horizon of operation.

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

The President is entitled to keep secret those conversations which a President may have had with his aids for the purpose of advising him in his Constitutional duties. Executive privilege cannot cover crimes, for they are not Constitutional duties.

I believe that President Clinton considered the legal merits of the arguments for the pardon as he understood them, and he rendered his judgment, wise or unwise, on the merits.

Making choices is what the Presidency is about.

Presidents always interpret things as they wish to.

What's funny about that office is it's entirely dependent on how close you are to the president, because the president decides what your role will be. If you get on with the president, that's great; if you fall out with the president, power can go away.

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.

The War Powers Act requires presidents to seek the consent of the American people, through their representatives, before sending our troops into war. It is the responsibility of Congress to deliberate and consult with the executive branch before involving ourselves in a military conflict.

When the president acts in absence of a congressional grant of authority, he can rely only upon his own independent powers. When the president takes measures incompatible with the express or implied will of Congress, his power is at its lowest ebb.

That's the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.

We must not allow any president to unleash the dogs of war at his own discretion and for an unlimited period of time.

The power given by the Constitution to the Executive to interpose his veto is a high conservative power; but in my opinion it should never be exercised except in cases of clear violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of due consideration by Congress.

The secretary of defense makes recommendations, sometimes will make strong recommendations to the president of the United States. But the president, whoever it is at that time, decides, makes the call on whether or not to take that recommendation.

Every candidate for the Presidency should read books that strike cautionary notes about how recent leaders miscalculated or allowed themselves to be led astray by false beliefs.

Any President can control the agenda.

The President sends first and asks our advice and consent afterwards.

He [President George W. Bush] really doesn’t want a lot of advice from me.