Definitions: "In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: The judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men."
The President is given the law-executing, law-enforcing, law-administering powers of the National Government.
The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. Application: Dames & Moore v. Regan Dames & Moore v. Regan, 453 U.S. 654 (1981) was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with President Jimmy Carter's Executive Order 12170, which freeze Iranian assets in the United States on November 14, 1979 in response to the Iran hostage crisis which began on November 4, 1979. After the inauguration on January 20, 1981, the Reagan administration agreed with Iran to terminate legal actions in U.S. courts involving claims by U.S. nationals against Iran, to cancel out attachments against Iranian property entered by U.S. courts to secure any judgments against Iran, and to transfer such claims from U.S. courts to a newly created arbitration tribunal. In an 8-1 decision, the opinion of the court was upheld these actions by the Reagan administration and "dismissed a $3 million lawsuit from private firm Dames & Moore against Treasury Secretary Don Regan, filed to recover a debt incurred by the Shah of Iran’s government." The Court also "substantially refined the applicable test" of the seminal 1952 case of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer and cemented Justice Robert H. Jackson's concurring opinion in that case as "canonical.
Mistretta v. United States John Mistretta, who sold cocaine, argued that the sentencing guidelines he was facing were unconstitutional due to a gross distribution of division by Congress resulting in a violation of the separation of powers. Mistretta pled guilty to conspiracy to sell cocaine after the District Court denied his motion in return for a removal of two other counts. He received an eighteen-month sentence. The Circuit Court filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court and received the writ. It was held that the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 was a constitutional delegation of powers. As society increases in complexity, Congress must delegate its job “under broad general directives”. The broad delegation “is sufficiently specific and detailed to meet constitutional requirements.” Congress has three goals in mind (1) guarantee to uphold the Act passed (2) provide certainty and fairness (3) establish uniform criminal history process. Congress specified four purposes of sentencing. (1) Reflect seriousness of offense, (2) promote respect for the law, (3) provide just punishment, (4) afford adequate deterrence, and provide defendant with needed correctional treatment. Congress set forth a guideline system to be personable for the specific case and placed 7 factors to consider when sentencing: grade of offense, aggravating circumstances, nature and degree of harm, community view, public concern, deterrent effect, current incidence. Another 11 factors were made to summarize the defendant: age, education, vocational skills, mental and emotional condition, physical condition, previous employment, family ties and responsibilities, community ties, role in the offense, criminal history, and degree of dependence upon crime for livelihood. Congress prohibited the Commission from addressing race, sex, national origin, creed, and socioeconomic status. (http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/mistretta.html) Clinton V. Jones On May 6, 1994, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones filed a sexual harassment suit against U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Arkansas State Police Officer Danny Ferguson. She claimed that on May 8, 1991, Clinton, then Governor of Arkansas, crudely propositioned her. She stated that David Brockclaimed an Arkansas state employee named "Paula" had offered to be Clinton's mistress. Ferguson had escorted Jones to Clinton's hotel room, stood guard, and claimed that Jones said that she would not mind being Clinton's mistress. The suit, Jones v Clinton was filed in the U.S District Court. Judge Susan Webber Wright, who had taken a class under then-Professor Clinton , ruled that a sitting President could not be sued and deferred the case until the conclusion of his term. Both parties appealed to the United State Courts, which ruled in favor of Jones, finding that "the President, like all other government officials, is subject to the same laws that apply to all all other members of our society." Clinton then appealed to the U.S Supreme Court, filing a petition for writ of certiorari. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that separation of powers does not mandate that federal court delay all private civil lawsuits against the President until the end of his term of office. Breyer argued that presidential immunity would apply only if the President could show that a private civil lawsuit would somehow interfere with the President's constitutionally assigned duties.