Glenn Reynolds (a/k/a Instapundit) has a column in the New York Times arguing that the vice president’s proper role is as a member of the legislative branch rather than as a team player in the executive branch.
Contrast this with Joe Biden’s formulation of vice-presidential duties:
Vice President Cheney has probably been the most dangerous Vice President we’ve had in American history. He has the idea…he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the Vice President of the United States. That’s the executive. He works in the executive branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.
And the primary role of the Vice President of the United States of America is to support the President of the United States of America. Give that President his or her best judgment when sought and as the Vice President to preside over the senate only in a time when in fact there is a tie vote. The constitution is explicit, the only authority the Vice President has from a legislative standpoint is to vote only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea that he’s a part of the legislative branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of the unitary executive . . . and look where it’s gotten us.
Article I, of course, deals with the legislative branch, not the executive.
So Biden thinks Dick Cheney improperly meddled in legislative affairs and Reynolds faults him for assuming executive authority. Maybe John Nance Garner had the best grasp of the vice presidency, but as between Biden and Reynolds, Reynolds makes a better case. The constitution gives the vice president only two duties: a present duty to serve as president of the Senate and a contingent one to assume the presidency.
The most important function of a vice president is to serve as a spare president. Using the spare president in the ordinary course of business is as unwise as driving on one’s spare tire. Spares should be kept pristine, for when they are really needed.
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The joke may turn out to be on Mr. Biden, who upbraided Ms. Palin for her reading of the Constitution. Presumably Mr. Biden thinks Barack Obama chose him for the same reason that George W. Bush chose Mr. Cheney, as a way of making up for a lack of experience in foreign affairs. Mr. Bush’s choice led him to rely on Mr. Cheney in ways that were unprecedented — and unconstitutional.
It’s a criticism aimed equally at former Vice President Gore, and Reynolds urges legislation to prohibit the vice president from exercising executive power.
