Check And Balances: The Three Branches Of Government

Today we have three separate branches of government that are supposed to keep each other from getting more powerful than the others through division of power and checks and balances as they interact with one another. They are the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. They each have their own roles to play, rules to follow, and are dependent on one another in order to keep the government running and keep chaos from happening. The Constitution calls for a system of separation of powers in which three branches of government can check and balance each other.

When the three branches were created so were the checks and balances providing equal power to all of the branches. The legislative branch is composed of Congress, which is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Firstly, there are many ways that the judicial branch checks on the executive branch. Congress, as a whole, can overturn a President’s veto by having a two-thirds majority from both houses if they decide that the President is wrong. Congress can also impeach the President in office. Also the Senate alone has the power to reject any treaties that are proposed by having two-thirds majority, as well as reject any

presidential nominations of federal officials or judges. Next the legislative branch also keeps the judicial branch in check. The legislative branch does this in many ways. Congress can create any number of lower courts. Congress can also make amendments to the Constitution to overturn any decisions that are made by the Supreme Court that they find to be unconstitutional, and impeach any judges from the bench.
The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court and various courts. The judicial branch checks on the executive branch by having the Supreme Court rule any laws that the executive branch makes unconstitutional. Next the judicial branch also has ways to check on the legislative branch. The Supreme Court can rule the President’s actions unconstitutional. The Supreme Court can also rule any treaties made unconstitutional.
Lastly the executive branch and the methods they have to check on the other two branches. The executive branch is mainly the President and his cabinet, vice president, and major departments of government. The President has the power to veto any laws passed by Congress and propose new laws to Congress. The ways that the executive branch checks the judicial branch is through the nominations of judges to the Supreme Court as well as the federal court system by the President. The President also can pardon individuals convicted of crimes and grant them amnesty.
In the legislative branch there are many leaders for different positions. First we have the Speaker of the House, who is the official spokesperson for the house or assembly. The Speaker’s role is to be present at every session of the Senate, and they present bills to the committee. That person also preserves the order when things get out of control. He/she states parliamentary motions and rules on parliamentary questions. They appoint committee members, as well as sign legislation, writs, and warrants. Secondly there is the Senate President Pro Temp. This person mainly acts as a substitute for the President of the Senate in case of absence, and they are able to have all the powers that the President of the Senate normally has.
We then have the minority and majority leaders. The majority leader is basically the lead speaker for the majority party during the floor debates, while the minority leader is the lead speaker for the minority party. The majority leader develops the calendar, and assists the president or speaker. The minority leader negotiates with the majority party, and he or she develops the minority position. Lastly party whips are also divided into majority and minority. The majority whip assist the floor leader, make sure that members attend, and count votes, while communication the majority position at the same time. The minority whip primarily assist the minority leader, count votes as well as the majority whip, and also make sure that the minority party members attend.
Congressional committees are structured in ways to aid in Congress’ functionality. They vary in tasks. They help organize important work that Congress is handling. There are many different types of committees and even more subcommittees. There are four types of congressional committees: standing, select, joint, and conference. Standing committees shape the majority of proposed laws. Select committees are formed temporarily for specific purposes. Joint committees are similar to select committees, but they have members from both the House and the Senate. Lastly conference committees are created only when the House and the Senate need to reconcile different versions of the same bill.
Many of the laws we have today started as drafts that eventually were signed into laws. A bill first begins as a draft that is introduced by any member of Congress, the President, cabinet member, or head of a federal agency, and that person in turn becomes its sponsor. After the introduction, the bill is then referred to a committee that examines it carefully and determines its chances for passage. If the committee doesn’t act on the bill, the bill is then dead. Bills are often referred to a subcommittee that studies it and holds hearings for it. The hearings provide opportunities to see the views of various groups of people. After the hearings are completed, the bill may be marked up by the subcommittee meaning that they make changes before recommending it to the full committee. The bill can die at this stage too if the subcommittee decides not to report it to the full committee. After the full committee receives the subcommittee’s report, they vote on its recommendation to the House or Senate, known as “ordering a bill reported”. The next step is to finally vote after a debate and the approval of any amendments. If the house passes the bill, it is then referred to the Senate and vice-versa, where it then follows the same route. The Senate or House then has the choice to approve, reject, ignore, or change the bill. If the Senate or House radically alter the bill, a conference committee is formed to try to make amendments that will please both sides. If a compromise cannot be reached, the legislation dies. If a compromise is reached, a conference report is prepared, and both the House and Senate must approve the report. After both houses are pleased with the bill, it is sent to the president. If the president approves the bill, he signs it, and it becomes law. If no action is taken by the president in 10 days, the legislation becomes law automatically. The president can also veto the legislation. Congress can then attempt to override the veto by getting two-thirds majority of both houses.
Now we move onto the executive branch and its roles. The leader is the President. His major roles are implementing and enforcing the laws written by Congress, appointing heads of federal agencies, and acting as the head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. From time to time the President must give information of the State of the Union known as the State of the Union address. It is usually given to a joint session of Congress each January outlining the agenda for the upcoming year. The White House staff provides logistical support for the President and hold influence over him. Each president has their own cabinet, which is an advisory body made up of the leaders of the 15 executive departments. The members are often the President’s close confidants. Their roles are running major federal agencies. These include the department of agriculture, commerce, defense, education, energy, health and human services, homeland security, housing and urban development, interior, justice, labor, state, transportation, treasury, and veteran affairs.
The 25th amendment relates to the process of succession in the event the President was to die or resign. If this were to happen, the Vice President would automatically become President. In section 2, the amendment specifies that is there is a vacancy in the office of Vice president; the President will nominate a Vice president to take office upon majority vote of both houses of Congress.
Lastly there is the judicial branch and its roles. The Supreme Court oversees a lot of cases. There is a process to how it is done. Firstly the way for cases to reach the Supreme Court is through appeal from a circuit court. The party seeking to appeal can file a petition to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. The Supreme Court can reject appeals, and the decisions of the lower courts are final in such cases. For a case to be presented in front of the Supreme Court, four of the nine Justices have to vote to do so. When a case is then presented before the Supreme Court, Justices typically hear oral arguments. Lawyers advocate their case directly to the Justices. The Justices have the lawyers submit briefs that argue their case first. At oral argument, lawyers have a half-hour to present their case in front of the nine Justices. After the completion of the oral arguments, Justices meet in a closed session to discuss the case. Their rulings are lengthy, carefully-written, and extensively footnoted.
Constitutional interpretation, or judicial interpretation, is defined as how the judicial branch should interpret the law, particularly constitutional documents and legislation. There are many cases where this is shown. For example in Olmstead v. United States, Ray Olmstead was convicted for importing, possessing, and selling illegal liquors. Federal agents obtained the evidence by wiretapping Olmstead’s basement without judicial approval. The question this cases posed was if the secret wiretapping was a violation of the party’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment. The Court ruled that neither of the Amendments were violated because the party was not forced to self-incriminate themselves nor was there a search and seizure under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.
Another example of judicial interpretation is shown in the Katz v.

United States trail. In this case federal agents placed an eavesdropping device to the phone booth that Katz was using because they suspected that Katz was transmitting gambling information to clients in other states. The question that this posed was whether the Fourth Amendment would require the police to obtain a search warrant in order to wiretap a public pay phone. In the ruling, 7 votes were in favor of Katz, and one vote was against. The court ruled that Katz was entitled to Fourth Amendment protection for his conversation but not for a physical intrusion into that area that he was occupying which was unnecessary to bring the Amendment into play as the Amendment protects people not

places.
There are various types of courts beside the main Supreme Court. There are the trial courts. This is where cases generally begin. There are two types of trial courts which are criminal and civil. At the trials both parties present their own evidence to try to convince a judge or jury to favor their side over the other party. A verdict is then reached by the judge, and thus ends the case.
There are other courts that can be grouped into courts of special jurisdiction. This includes bankruptcy and tax courts, which are part of the federal system. The state system has courts such as probate, family court, and several others. Most of the judge and jury in these types of courts specialize in that particular area as well. These cases are typically faster.
Then there are appellate courts. If a judge of the lower courts made a mistake in the law or trial procedure, the parties are able to appeal the case to the appellate court. These courts do not hear cases in their entirety, but instead address whether a lower court made a serious mistake of law.