patrickmcginnis59 10839 (7/29/2015)
GoofyGuy (7/29/2015)
... under no circumstances can [the US Constitution] be ignored or interpreted by the Executive branch, a State, or a branch of government like the Justice Department, Department of Defense, or the NSA.
Actually, it gets ignored and interpreted all the time by all those governmental entitiies, by corporate entities, and by individuals as well.
That's why we have lawsuits and (ahem) lawyers.
I think based on the 3 major branches of the government, the judicial branch chiefly engages in the interpretation of the constitution, the legislative can initiate the process of change, so that leaves the ignoring part for the branch that's left over!
The primary role of a US president is (literally) to act as Chief Executive Officer over all the various federal agencies. The DOD, FDA, NSA, CIA, Homeland Security, Justice Department... they all report to the office of the president. Giving press interviews, and flying around on Airforce One to deliver speeches or meet with foreign dignataries does fall within the scope of the job, but isn't the primary responsibility.
However, looking at the terms of both Bush and Obama one can easily forget that. One would be left with the impression that these agencies operate independently and not only do they not answer to the president, but he doesn't even have a clue what they're doing.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho