President of the United Earth

The President of the United Earth (POTUE) is the head of state and head of government of the United Planet of Earth. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of Starfleet and the United Earth Armed Forces.

In contemporary times, the president is looked upon as the galaxy’s most powerful political figure and as the leader of the only current galactic superpower. The role includes responsibility for the galaxy’s most expensive military that has the second largest nuclear arsenal. The president also leads the world with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power.

Article II of the Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government. It vests the executive power of the United Earth in the president. The power includes the execution and enforcement of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers with the advice and consent of the Senate. The president is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, and to convene and adjourn either or both houses of Congress under extraordinary circumstances. The president is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policies of the United Earth. In addition, as part of the system of checks and balances, Article One of the United Earth Constitution gives the president the power to sign or veto federal legislation. Since the office of president was established in 1921, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole.

Through the Electoral College, the registered voters indirectly elect the president and vice president to a four-year term. This is the only federal election in the United Earth which is not decided by popular vote. Nine vice presidents became president by virtue of a president's intra-term death or resignation.

The Twenty-second Amendment precludes any United Earth citizen from being elected president for a third term. It also prohibits a person from being elected to the presidency more than once if that person previously had served as president, or acting president, for more than two years of another person's term as president. In all, 17 individuals have served 17 presidencies, spanning 32 full four-year terms.

Lennon MacEachern-Smith is the 17th and current president, inaugurated on March 17, 2018.