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US political system
Three branches: 1. Legislative branch (1st Article of the Constitution):
100 Senators and 435 Representatives
- Making laws - Approving federal judges and justices - Passing the national budget - Declaring the war
2. Executive branch(2nd Article of the Constitution):
· President - the president leads the country. He/she is the head of state, leader of the federal government, and commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president serves a four-year term and can be elected no more than two times. · Vice-president - the Vice president supports the president. If the president is unable to serve, the vice president becomes president. He/she can serve an unlimited number of four-year terms. · The Cabinet – the Cabinet members serve as advisors to the president. They include the vice president and the heads of executive departments. Cabinet members are nominated by the president and must be approved by the Senate (with at least 51 votes). · Executive departments, independent agencies, and other boards, commissions, and committees.
- Carries out laws - Defense - Treasury - Homeland security - Appoints government officials - Meets with the members of other countries
Each branch of government can change acts of the other branches as follows: · The president can veto laws passed by Congress. · Congress confirms or rejects the president's appointments and can remove the president from office in exceptional circumstances. · The justices of the Supreme Court, who can overturn unconstitutional laws, are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
3. Judicial branch(3rd Article of the Constitution): Includes all the courts in the country from the district federal courts to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court:
9 justices, who are appointed for life or for as long as they want to stay.
- Evaluates laws - settles the disputes among the states - hears court appeals from the federal courts - determines if the federal laws are constitutional The bicameral Congress:
· House of Representatives requirements: 435 members, which are divided among the 50 states in proportion to their total population. (2-year term)
- Minimum 25 years old - 7 years of citizenship - Legal resident of the state you represent
Authority: - Impeachment of the President, members of the State - Decide Presidential elections if no candidate got the electoral college - “Power of the purse” – raising taxes
· Senate requirements: 100 members, 2 senators per state (6-year term)
- minimum 30 years old - 9 years of citizenship - Legal resident of the state you represent
Authority:
- Impeachment trials - Ratifying treaties (2/3 votes of the Senate) - Confirmation power – appointing the executive office members
WHY IS LEGISLATIVE BRANCH DIVIDED? 1. Historical reasons:proportional representation vs. equal power of big and small states
Great Compromise – Roger Sherman * Upper House – equal representation *Lower House – proportional representation 2. Practical reasons: -Inter-branch check: dividing legislative branch into two helps to make sure that legislative branch does not dominate in the state and does not take too much power. Indeed, the Upper House limits and controls the Lower House; the system works vice versa, too. Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1057
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