This part of the Constitution defines certain powers of the president, specifically establishing the role of commander-in-chief, the power to make treaties and appoint federal officials, and the authority to grant pardons.
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.
While Article I gives Congress the power to declare war and to fund and regulate the military, Article II gives the president, as commander-in-chief, the power to direct the military.
Though the power to pardon lies exclusively with the president, for any reason he sees fit, it is limited to federal offenses and does not include impeachment convictions by Congress or convictions at the state level.
This section also authorizes the president to nominate various federal officials, with Senate approval. Notably, Article II doesn’t mention anything about the president’s power to remove those officers, a topic that has caused much debate over the years. However, on June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court, in Trump v. Slaughter, held that the president can remove leaders of many independent federal agencies at will. The decision ended a 91-year-old legal precedent set in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), while leaving a narrow exception for the Federal Reserve.
