This article is over 6 years old

Houston Matters

How Powerful Should Any American President Be?

On this edition of Houston Matters, we join with public radio programs nationwide participating in NPR’s latest A Nation Engaged project, examining Power and the Presidency. We ask you: How powerful should any American president be? What do you see as the proper balance between the executive, legislative and judicial branches? What would you like […]

| Posted on

Share

A Nation Engaged Banner Logo

Listen

To embed this piece of audio in your site, please use this code:

<iframe src="https://embed.hpm.io/1/219173" style="height: 115px; width: 100%;"></iframe>
X
On this edition of Houston Matters, we join with public radio programs nationwide participating in NPR's latest A Nation Engaged project, examining Power and the Presidency.

We ask you: How powerful should any American president be? What do you see as the proper balance between the executive, legislative and judicial branches? What would you like to see as the limits of executive orders? What about military action? As commander-in-chief, any president has a certain degree of latitude to make decisions about our military, but, by law, it's up to congress to declare war. At what point should a president seek that congressional approval? And what role should the "fourth estate" – the media – play in all of this?

We talk with Nancy Beck Young, professor of history at the University of Houston, and Josh Blackman, associate professor of law at South Texas College of Law Houston.