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Congressional vs. presidential power focus of Sept. 23 Constitution Day program

Posted 9/17/2009

Political scientist Bruce Oppenheimer will discuss the continued expansion of presidential power and its impact on Congress during the Vanderbilt’s annual Constitution Day program on Sept. 23.

Oppenheimer’s talk, “Congressional versus Presidential Influence: The Illusion of a Balancing Act,” will be from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Flynn Auditorium of Vanderbilt University Law School. The program, which is free and open to the public, commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.

Every year students in civics classes across the country are taught that the U.S. Constitution provided for the creation of a government with three main branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The purpose was to create a so-called pendulum effect that would prevent one branch from amassing or exercising too much power. For example, should the executive branch garner too much power, the pendulum would swing back toward the legislative branch to offset the excess, and vice versa.

Oppenheimer, professor of political science and acting department chair, will argue that the pendulum has not been working as intended in recent decades given the growth of presidential power at the expense of congressional power. In addition, he will explain why each swing of the pendulum toward executive power goes farther and each pull back by Congress is less than the previous one.

This will be Vanderbilt’s fifth observance of Constitution Day.

Contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu

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