The only man to serve as both President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was William H. Taft. Taft became President following the end of Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidency, but had always favored a position on the Supreme Court and was something of a reluctant President. He lasted only one term as President and was granted his wish to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921, when he was nominated by President Harding. He would serve as Chief Justice for nine years until his ill health forced him to step down shortly before his death. As a Chief Justice Taft, encouraged the Judiciary Act of 1925, which expanded the Supreme Court’s power to give priority to cases that they considered of national importance.

Annual authorizations are budgets established by Congress for various government agencies on a yearly basis.

A coalition government occurs more often in Parliamentary systems than it does in the American system, but it has occurred previously on rare occasions throughout American history. A coalition government occurs when a group of smaller parties or interest groups work together and combine their representation in order to form a majority in Congress.

In a Unified Government, in contrast to a Divided Government, the Legislative and Executive Branches are both controlled by the same party. This allows much more legislation to get passed. In a Divided Government, one of the parties controls Congress and the other controls the Presidency. This often leads to gridlock.

The War Powers Act of 1973 was designed to eliminate the president’s ability to unilaterally declare war or commit the armed forces without the prescribed support of Congress. It was issued in response to the United States’ prolonged involvement in Korea and Vietnam, both conflicts that occurred without a formal declaration of war being issued by Congress.

Executive privilege allows the president and other important members of the Executive branch to withhold information from, and refuse to testify to, Congress. It is most relevant in U.S. History to the refusal of Richard Nixon to provide certain evidence to Congress during his trial over the Watergate incident.

In the 1824 election none of the major candidates gained a clear majority; however, Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams emerged as the two leading candidates in the popular vote. Due to the lack of a clear winner, the election had to be decided in the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, himself a candidate in the election, allegedly offered his support to John Quincy Adams, helping him win the Presidency, In exchange, Clay was made Adams’ Secretary of State. Andrew Jackson would campaign, partially, on the platform of the "corrupt-bargain" in the next election, 1828.

Judicial review establishes that the judicial branch of the government has the right to analyze the constitutionality of certain actions undertaken by the legislative and executive branches of government. It is part of the checks and balances aspect of American government that ensures that no one branch of the United States government can wield absolute power at the expense of the other two branches.

This is an incredibly interesting story. Essentially, there were four justices on the Supreme Court, Butler, McReynolds, Sutherland, and Van Devanter, who were extremely conservative. They always voted in a bloc, and nearly always voted to strike down FDRs New Deal legislation. This earned them the name “the Four Horsemen.” Since they always voted in a bloc (and there were four of them) it took only one other justice to disagree with the legislation to cobble together a majority and strike the law down. During the beginning of the New Deal era, this happened relatively frequently, much to FDR’s chagrin.

Seeing no end in sight, and getting more frustrated by the day, FDR managed to come up with what he thought was a solution: get Congress to pass a bill that added more members to the Supreme Court. As President, he could appoint them, and since Congress was overwhelmingly Democrat, the Senate would likely confirm his appointees.

So, FDR comes up with a plan for a bill: craft a piece of legislation under the ruse of helping the poor, old, enfeebled members of the Supreme Court. His “subtle” bill would have allowed him to appoint 1 new associate justice for every justice over the age of 70 years, up to a total of 6 additional members. Nearly everyone saw the bill for what it was, and it quickly earned the derisive moniker of the “court packing plan,” as it would have allowed him to “pack” the court with like-minded justices, and thus his New Deal legislation would pass. It didn’t pass Congress.

The Supreme Court and the Cabinet are two bodies appointed by the President, and so they do not have the power to approve these appointments. The House of Representatives and the Vice President also do not have this power. The power to offer “advice and consent” on the issue of presidential appointments is reserved by the Senate, according to Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution.