imperial presidency

American  

noun

(sometimes initial capital letters)

1. a U.S. presidency that is characterized by greater power than the Constitution allows.

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Etymology

Origin of imperial presidency

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

This isn’t because the founders wanted an imperial presidency.

From The Wall Street Journal

“After Watergate, President Ford said there was an imperiled president, not an imperial presidency,” said presidential historian Robert Dallek.

From Los Angeles Times

You can almost see in this an inexorable battle between the imperial court and the imperial presidency that the court itself created.

From Slate

"In Tanzania we have something called an imperial presidency," she said.

From BBC

But American politics and presidency scholars – including me – have long worried about the idea of an imperial presidency – meaning, a president who tries to exert a level of control beyond what the Constitution spells out.

From Salon