Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the President the power to make treaties, with the advice and consent of the Senate. This process requires a two-thirds Senate vote for a treaty to become law, ensuring that no single individual can unilaterally decide the nation‘s international commitments.
Archiv: Article 2 US Constitution
Can the US legally ban Mahmoud Abbas and the PA from the UN General Assembly?
(August 31, 2025)
The issue was brought before the International Court of Justice, an agency of the UN, which ruled that the US was legally bound by the headquarters agreement. But the ICJ never issued a final ruling on the Arafat visa denial because the issue was brought to arbitration, although that process too was never brought to a definitive conclusion.
Constitution of the United States: Article II
Section 2
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of 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 Offences 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 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.
Judge slams ‘perverse reading’ of Constitution by Trump admin fighting lawsuit challenging DOGE, but puts one less case on the president’s docket
“Defendants appear to sanction unlimited Executive power, free from checks and balances, but the Constitution prohibits unilateral control over ‘official appointments’ by ‘dividing the power to appoint the principal federal offices … between the Executive and Legislative Branches,‘” Chutkan added.
The judge further dispatched the defendants’ argument that a court cannot review the president’s actions in this case.
“The fact that President Trump purports to create a position and assign it powers by Executive Order does not preclude review under the Appointments Clause,” she wrote.
“No branch may aggrandize its own appointment power at the expense of another and no branch may abdicate its Appointments Clause duties,” Chutkan added. “And the Judiciary has a duty to maintain ‘the constitutional plan of separation of powers.’ Consequently, the court will reject Defendants’ perverse reading of the Appointments Clause.”
Judge Says Musk Must Face Lawsuit Over His Role In DOGE
A federal judge in D.C. Tuesday greenlit lawsuits challenging Elon Musk’s position in the federal government and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as unconstitutional.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said 14 states and a group of advocacy organizations plausibly argued that Musk and DOGE’s efforts to slash the government violate the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
Without one chamber participating in this improper scheme, this action would be unconstitutional. The president has no general, unilateral power to adjourn Congress.
He may do so only in the limited “Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment.”
Trump faces roadblocks with threat to adjourn Congress
The president’s power to adjourn Congress, enshrined in Article II of the Constitution, has never been used before by a president, setting an all-but-guaranteed court fight if Trump moved forward.
But legal experts say Trump doesn’t have the authority to adjourn Congress without cooperation from at least one chamber, and Senate Republicans poured cold water on the idea.
Trump droht dem Kongress mit einer Zwangspause
Der US-Präsident verurteilte die bisherige Praxis, den Kongressbetrieb durch Pro-Forma-Sitzungen, bei denen keine Abgeordnete oder Senatoren anwesend seien, aufrechtzuerhalten. Dies sei eine „Vernachlässigung der Pflichten, die sich das amerikanische Volk in dieser Krise nicht leisten kann“, sagte Trump. Er sprach von „Betrug“.
Trump threatens to adjourn both chambers of Congress
Lawmakers in both chambers are not expected to return to the Capitol until May 4 but both the House and Senate have been conducting pro forma sessions in the meantime. Those sessions prevent Trump from making recess appointments.
„The current practice of leaving town while conducting phony pro forma sessions is a dereliction of duty that the American people can not afford during this crisis,“ he said. „It is a scam, what they do. It’s a scam. And everybody knows it and it’s been that way for a long time.“