Also known as: Take-Care Clause · Faithful Execution Clause
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional command requiring the President to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed. The clause imposes a duty to carry out statutory spending directives without unilateral refusal or alteration when Congress has mandated disbursement of appropriated funds.
Congress enacted a statute directing the Federal Procurement Office to distribute specified grants to states for upgrading voting systems with no conditions attached. The President ordered the office director to withhold payments from states whose election laws the administration criticized. Affected states sued the director to compel disbursement of the funds.
Congress created an independent multimember commission with staggered terms and permitted presidential removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. The President attempted to remove a commissioner immediately for policy disagreement and named an acting replacement. The commissioner sued to block the removal and replacement.
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The President issued a memorandum directing state courts to set aside procedural bars and reopen final criminal judgments to comply with an international court decision. A state court refused to follow the directive on the ground that the decision lacked domestic legal force. The affected defendant challenged the state court's refusal.
No. When Congress enacts a statute that mandates spending and sets disbursement conditions, the clause requires the executive to follow those directions. Withholding funds adds conditions Congress did not impose and constitutes impermissible impoundment.
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The directive is invalid. The clause obligates the President to execute the law as written, including clear timing requirements for payments. Ordering indefinite delay to achieve fiscal or political goals violates that duty.
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No. The clause prohibits substituting political preferences for statutory eligibility criteria. Withholding funds from otherwise qualified applicants solely because of political opposition amounts to unilateral revision of the appropriations law.
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No. An express statutory command to obligate the full appropriation leaves no room for the executive to defer a substantial portion based on fiscal concerns. Such action constitutes prohibited impoundment.
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…that the Memorandum is a valid exercise of the President's "Take Care" power fails because Avena is not domestic law. The Take Care clause empowers the President to execute the laws, not to make them. Because Avena is not of its own force domestic law and no implementing legislation exists, the President cannot rely on his…