Inherent Powers

The federal government is generally one of enumerated powers, but the Supreme Court has recognized that some powers belong to it simply because the United States is a sovereign nation among nations. In the Chinese Exclusion Case of 1889, the Court described the power to exclude foreigners as an incident of sovereignty, and later cases called Congress's authority over immigration plenary. Powers to acquire territory, conduct diplomacy, and wage war have similarly been described as inherent in nationhood.

The leading statement came in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., decided December 21, 1936, in which Justice George Sutherland wrote that the powers of external sovereignty passed from Britain to the union as a whole and do not depend on the Constitution's affirmative grants, and he described the President as the sole organ of the nation in its external relations. The opinion has been cited ever since to support broad executive authority in foreign affairs, although scholars have long criticized its historical claims and its sweeping language was not necessary to decide the case.

In Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer in 1952, the Court rejected President Harry Truman's claim of inherent power to seize steel mills during the Korean War, and Justice Robert Jackson's concurrence, which ties presidential power to the will of Congress, remains the main framework for such disputes. In Zivotofsky v. Kerry in 2015, the Court upheld the President's exclusive power to recognize foreign governments while rejecting the sole organ theory. Supporters say a nation must be able to act decisively abroad and at its borders, while critics say claims of inherent power can escape constitutional limits.