We will dig into Biden's State of the Union Address, but before we do, here is background about its place in Article 2, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
- Click here for it.
The first two clauses of Article II, Section 3 relate to the President’s legislative role. The first clause, directing the President to report to the Congress on the state of the union, imposes a duty rather than confers a power and serves as the formal basis of the President’s legislative leadership. The President’s legislative role has grown substantially since 1900. This development, however, reflects changes in political and social forces rather than any pronounced change in constitutional interpretation. The rise of parties and the accompanying recognition of the President as party leader, the appearance of the National Nominating Convention and the Party Platform, and the introduction of the Spoils System all contributed to the growth of the President’s legislative role.1 While certain pre-Civil War Presidents, mostly of Whig extraction, professed hesitation regarding usurping legislative powers,2 still earlier Presidents—including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson—took a very different line, albeit less boldly and persistently than their later successors.3 Today, there is no subject on which the President may not appropriately communicate to Congress, in as precise terms as he chooses, his conception of its duty. Conversely, the President is not obliged by this Clause to impart information which, in his judgment, should in the public interest be withheld.
For more:
- List of In-Person Annual Message and State of the Union Addresses.
- State of the Union Address.
- Annual Messages to Congress on the State of the Union (Washington 1790 - the present).
- History, Evolution, and Practices of thePresident’s State of the Union Address.
