Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-635_o7jq.pdf
Page Number: 48.0

4 

TRUMP v. VANCE 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

The Constitution vests the President with “the executive 
Power” of the United States, Art. II, §1, cl. 1, and entrusts 
him with the responsibility “to take Care that the Laws be
faithfully  executed,”  §3.    As  the  head  of  the  Executive 
Branch, the President is ultimately responsible for every-
thing done by all the departments and agencies of the Fed-
eral  Government  and  a  federal  civilian  work  force  that 
includes millions of employees.  These weighty responsibil-
ities impose enormous burdens on the time and energy of 
any occupant of the Presidency. 

“Constitutionally  speaking,  the  President  never  sleeps. 
The President must be ready, at a moment’s notice, to do 
whatever it takes to preserve, protect, and defend the Con-
stitution and the American people.”  Amar & Katyal, Exec-
utive  Privileges  and  Immunities:  The  Nixon  and  Clinton
Cases, 108 Harv. L. Rev. 701, 713 (1995).  Without a Presi-
dent who is able at all times to carry out the responsibilities 
of  the  office,  our  constitutional  system  could  not  operate, 
and the country would be at risk.  That is why the Twenty-
fifth  Amendment  created  a  mechanism  for  temporarily 
transferring  the  responsibilities  of  the  office  to  the  Vice 
President if the President is incapacitated for even a brief 
—————— 
Representative, subject to the President’s direction, to modify tariff rates 
if “the rights of the United States under any trade agreement are being 
denied” or if a foreign country’s actions are “unjustifiable and burde[n] 
or restric[t] United States commerce”), §2461 (authorizing the President 
to “provide duty-free treatment for any eligible article from any benefi-
ciary  developing  country”);  Bipartisan  Congressional  Trade  Priorities 
and  Accountability  Act  of  2015,  19  U. S. C.  §§4201–4210  (most  recent 
delegation of trade-promotion authority, authorizing the President to ne-
gotiate and enter trade agreements); Immigration and Nationality Act of 
1952, 8 U. S. C. §1182(f ) (authorizing the President, “for such period as 
he shall deem necessary,” to “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class 
of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of al-
iens  any  restrictions  he  may  deem  to  be appropriate,”  “[w]henever  the 
President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into 
the  United  States  would  be  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  United 
States”).