Section. 3.
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.
Section. 4.
The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
I am not your lawyer. This is not legal advice.
Double duty this week! By which I mean two sections. You’ll miss it when it’s over, I kind of promise.
Section 3 is kind of a logjam of stuff. To resolve last week’s tension, yes, the Constitution does require the President to update Congress on the State of the Union, which has been refered to as requiring a speech. I think a President with a busy schedule could maybe just send a detailed email, but tradition is tradition. Part of the speech can be recommendation of measures judged to be reasonable and necessary.
The President has the power to convene Congress in case of an emergency.
The President receives Ambassadors, which has been referred to as requiring finger sandwiches. I think a President with a busy kitchen staff could maybe just offer light hors d’oeuvres, but tradition is tradition.
The President is charged to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, which seems like it would be a big part of the job as that constitutes approximately 100% of the executive power we tucked into the Presidential vest back in Section 1, but here it is crammed in near the end of a long sentence in section 3. Make of that what you will.
Finally, after all that faff about appointments last section, now we see that the President also gets to commission the officers after the advice and consent has dried off.
Then, Section 4 tells us, a president (or a vice president, if we’re feeling our oats) shall be removed if Congress (1) impeaches and then (2) convicts for treason, bribery, or another high crime or misdemeanor.
And with that, we have the President’s whole deal. Next week, we move on to the Judiciary. And if you think the President got off easy, just you wait.