The Supreme Court in a Free Society

LIKE MOST MODERN GOVERNments the United States has manifested a tendency toward concentration of power in the hands of the executive. The President is the political head of the country in extraconstitutional affairs; he exercises the power of pardon, the veto power, and extensive war powers, and has almost absolute control over foreign relations. Moreover, in certain situations, Congress may give the executive its own power to be used when swift and coordinated action is required. Finally, the efficient conduct of government, increasingly in the multiple hands of administrative authority, has given rise to the expressions "government by commission" and "government by executive order" -- terms indicative of the important position of the President in present-day government.

The members of the Convention of 1787 who feared that the executive inevitably would succumb to an all-powerful legislature have proved to be poor prophets. Although the Supreme Court has from the time of Marshall asserted and maintained a role of great significance, it is the presidential office that has expanded most in power and has shown the greatest increase in both the number and

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