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Executive power

Execute the laws

The executive power, all of it, is vested in the President, with a duty to 'take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.' Congress writes the laws; the roughly 2.2 million civilian employees of the executive branch carry them out under the President's direction.

Article II, Sections 1 & 3

Read the clause itself, verbatim and in plain language, in the in-app Constitution.

Held by

The President, through the departments and agencies

President of the United StatesVice PresidentCabinet Secretary (department head)

How it works in practice

In practice the power runs through the departments and agencies: prosecutions by Justice, tax collection by Treasury, benefits by SSA, each acting under statutes Congress passed and funds Congress appropriated. Enforcement priorities, prosecutorial discretion, and supervision of officials are where the President's control shows, and where the fights over its limits happen.

The answering checks
CongressDefines every agency's authority by statuteA law passed by a legislature and signed into effect. Distinct from a regulation, which an agency writes, and from a court decision, which interprets both.Read the full definition (opens a new tab), funds or defunds it, and investigates how the laws are actually executed.
The courtsSet aside executive actionAn umbrella phrase for anything a President does without new legislation: orders, memoranda, proclamations, enforcement priorities, and agency guidance.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) that exceeds statutory authority or the Constitution (Youngstown).
See it in the app
Source

Constitution Annotated, Article II

Terms to know: Take Care ClauseArticle II's instruction that the President 'take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed', both a duty and a font of executive power.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) · removal powerThe President's contested authority to fire executive officers without Senate approval. Its reach over 'independent' agencies is an active constitutional battleground.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) · CabinetThe President's senior advisory body: the Vice President and the heads of the 15 executive departments, plus officials the President elevates to cabinet rank.Read the full definition (opens a new tab)

Plain-language civic education, not legal advice. The live boundaries of this power are set case by case; the sources above and the constitutional text control.