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The unitary executive theory is a legal theory in United States constitutional law which holds that the President of the United States possesses the power to control the entire federal executive branch.
Aside from the number of levels, the most important distinction between a unitary system and a federal one is that the states or provinces of a federal state have constitutionally protected sovereignty.
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Under the U.S. Constitution, the president assumes executive power, Congress exercises legislative powers, and the federal courts (e.g., U.S. district courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court) assume judicial powers.
Federalism is marked by a sharing of power between the central government and state, provincial, or local governing bodies. The United States is one example of a federal republic. The U.S. Constitution grants specific powers to the national government while retaining other powers for the states.
Unitary governmmental systems place high emphasis on the central government, while federal governments delegate more power to individual regions of the country. A confederacy is formed when separate states consolidate their power into a weaker federal government, kind of the opposite of a unitary government.
Figure 1. There are three general systems of government—unitary systems, federations, and confederations—each of which allocates power differently. In a confederation, authority is decentralized, and the central government’s ability to act depends on the consent of the subnational governments.
Although the text of the Constitution does not clearly delineate many of the boundaries between the powers of the federal and state governments, the Supreme Court has frequently invoked certain constitutional provisions when determining that Congress has exceeded its constitutional powers and infringed upon state sovereignty. 7 Footnote
