5 - Presidential Calls to Congress

Summary

Chapter 5 examines the effect of presidential speeches on Congress. To do this, we explore instances in which presidents call for congressional action, such as passing a piece of legislation or proposing a constitutional amendment, from 1953 to 2017. These types of calls to Congress occur in about 20 percent of presidential speeches regarding decided cases. We then follow up on these pleas to Congress by investigating whether Congress acted on the presidents’ requests by introducing legislation or constitutional amendments to alter the Court’s decisions. We find evidence that Congress does respond to the president, often introducing or passing legislation to alter the Court’s decisions consistent with the president’s calls for action. Thus, this chapter contributes to our understanding of how the executive, legislative, and judicial branches do and do not coordinate to interpret the Constitution.