Separation of Powers

MACHINERY OF GOVERNMENT

The Constitution established three main branches of government – executive, legislative, judicial – that are separate and distinct from one another. The three branches must work together and at the same time can counteract one another to ensure that no one branch gains too much power.

Legislative Branch: Congress

Photo: Capitol, Washington, D.C. The legislative branch - Congress - consists of the Senate (the upper chamber), and the House of Representatives (the lower chamber). All in all, 100 Senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives (commonly referred to as Congressmen), sit in Congress. The seat of American Congress is the Capitol building, located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill.

The Senate is composed of two members from each state, regardless of the state’s size. The duty of the Senate is to ensure that all states are treated equally and the interests of the smaller states are taken into account along with the interests of the bigger ones.

Unlike the Senate, representation in the House of Representatives is directly proportional to the population of the state. The more populous the state is, the more members in the House of Representatives it has. Every state is constitutionally guaranteed at least one member of the House. Currently, seven states have only one representative. On the other hand, four states have more than 20 representatives - California has 53, Texas – 32, New York – 29, Florida - 25. Under the Constitution, a national census should be held every 10 years, after which the House seats are redistributed according to population shifts.

Powers of Congress are defined by the Constitution, but none of them is more important than the power to make laws. Any senator or congressman may introduce a bill, after which it is referred to the appropriate legislative committee for hearings. The committee, in turn, debates the bill, possibly offering amendments, then votes on it. If approved, the bill heads back to the chamber from which it came, where the full body will vote on it. If lawmakers approve the measure, it will be sent to the other chamber for a vote, and when both chambers have approved it, it is ready for the President. The President may either sign a bill into law or veto it. Congress, in turn, has the power to override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority in both chambers.

In addition, Congress has the power to amend the Constitution, to declare war, to collect taxes, to investigate pressing national issues and many others, which are spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

Executive Branch: President and their Administration

The Executive power lies with the President of the United States, who is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land. The executive branch of the U.S. government includes the President, the Vice President, 15 Executive Departments and over 50 Independent Agencies. The President is the leader of the country and Commander in Chief of the military. The Vice President isPresident of the Senate and also the one who becomes President if the President is unable to serve. The Executive Departments advise the President on policy issues and help execute those policies. The Independent Agencies help execute policy or provide special services. Among the most important independent agencies are the Federal Reserve System, Federal Trade Commission, Central Intelligence Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NACA) and others.

The President and the Vice-President are the only officials elected by the entire country. However, there are requirements for holding either of these positions. The presidential candidate must be at least 35 years old. Also, each candidate must be a natural-born U.S. citizen and have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years. Recently, there has been some debate about whether presidents must be natural-born citizens. Because the U.S. is a nation of immigrants, many people argue that all citizens should have the opportunity to become president. The election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as California governor brought forward this debate again.

President’s tenure of office is limited to two terms. The first president, George Washington served only two terms and a two-term limit for presidents became traditional. It remained the standard for 150 years, avoiding the election of a “constitutional monarch”, a perpetually re-elected tyrant. In the 1930-1940s, however, Franklin D. Roosevelt ran successfully in four elections as Americans fought first the Great Depression and then World War II. Despite Roosevelt’s popularity, negative reaction to his long tenure in office ultimately led to passage of the Twenty-Second Amendment, which limited presidents to two four-year terms.

Photo: White House, Washington, D.C. The office of President of the U.S is one of the most powerful in the world. The chief duty of the President is to enforce the laws made by the Congress. But, of course, the range of presidential powers is much broader than that. The president has the power to recommend legislation to the Congress, to sign or veto legislation, to appoint federal judges, to appoint heads of federal departments and agencies; to appoint representatives to foreign countries and to carry on official business with foreign nations; to grant pardons for offences against the U.S. The President is also the official head of the U.S. military forces. As Commander in Chief, he can authorize the use of troops overseas without declaring war. To declare war officially, though, he must get the approval of the Congress.

The Vice President of the United States is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the nation upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. The vice president also serves as the President of the Senate, and may break tie votes in that chamber (In modern times, the vice president rarely presides over day-to-day matters in the Senate; in his place, the Senate chooses a President pro tempore (or "president for a time") to preside in the Vice President's absence).

To carry out the President’s responsibilities, the President presides over a vast organization numbering several million people, who work at the government departments and agencies. Of the 15 departments currently in existence, the oldest (established at the time of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789) are the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of War (now called the Department of Defense). The latest-established department is the Department of Homeland Security created by President George W. Bush in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. All departments are headed by the Secretaries who are nominated by the President and confirmed (or rejected) by the Senate.

The heads of the major Departments – their Secretaries - make up the Cabinet. The Cabinet is an informal institution which has no basis in the Constitution. It is based on practice and precedent and its existence dates back to the first American President George Washington, who appointed a Cabinet of four people to advise and assist him in his duties. They were the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney General. From that time on, the Secretaries of these four Departments have become the most powerful and relevant Cabinet members. In recent years, the Secretary of Homeland Security has risen to a level of significance close to the “big four”. Presidents today also include their vice presidents in Cabinet meetings, as well as any other agency heads or officials to whom they would like to give Cabinet-level status. But although the Cabinet is still an important organ of bureaucratic management, it has been generally declining in relevance as a policy making body. Starting with President Franklin Roosevelt, the trend has been for the presidents to act through the Executive Office of the President or the National Security Council rather than through the Cabinet. This has created a situation in which non-cabinet officials such as the White House Chief of Staff or the National Security Advisor are now as powerful or more powerful than some Cabinet officials.

Judicial Branch: the Supreme Court and the System of Lower Courts

The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts. The judiciary consists of a three-tiered system of courts, headed by the Supreme Court of the U.S. The Constitution protects independence of the federal judges by providing that they are appointed for life, or, as is said in the Constitution, “during good behavior.” If a judge commits an offence, he may be removed from office, but only after being impeached.

Photo: Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C.

At the bottom of the U.S. federal judiciary are the federal district courts. The 50 states and U.S. territories are divided into 94 districts so that litigants may have a trial within easy reach. Cases are heard in district courts when they involve federal offenses such as theft of federal property, violations of pure-food, banking and counterfeiting laws, bankruptcy and civil suits between citizens of different states if the amount in issue is more than $75,000.

The second highest level of the federal judiciary is made up of 13 courts of appeals which review decisions of the federal courts. They were created to ease the burden on the Supreme Court.

The highest court of the land is the Supreme Court. It is the final court of appeal placed at the top of the judicial pyramid. Most importantly, the Supreme Court acts as the final interpreter of the U.S. Constitution and has the power to determine whether a law or an executive act is constitutional or not. If the Supreme Court strikes down the law as unconstitutional, the law becomes null and void. This function of the Supreme Court is called the power of judicial review.

The Supreme Court consists of nine justices: the Chief Justice of the U.S. and eight associate justices. Like all federal judges, the justices of the Supreme Court are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and they retain their office indefinitely during “good behavior” (so far not a single Supreme Court justice has been impeached). Since the Supreme Court justices hold their jobs for life, the newly-elected presidents don’t appoint all the judges on the bench, but only fill the opening vacancies. George W. Bush, for instance, filled two vacancies in the Supreme Court that opened upon the retirement of one justice and death of the other. Of the rest of the current justices, one was appointed by President G. Ford, two - by President R. Reagan, two - by President G. Bush, and two - by W. Clinton.

Photo: Current Chief Justice of the U.S. John G. Roberts

Some rulings of the Supreme Court are particularly important. These rulings, known as landmark decisions or landmark cases, establish legal precedents and substantially change the interpretation of the law. They receive a lot of publicity and become known to many people, not only lawyers and legal scholars. Miranda v. Arizona is one of the recent landmark cases.

Because the Supreme Court has the final word on the meaning of the Constitution, it has acquired a tremendous policy-making power. Many groups, who cannot achieve policy change through traditional legislation, choose to bring their claims to the federal courts, so that they could reach on appeal the Supreme Court and thus take their struggle into the national spotlight.

Over the years, the Supreme Court has gradually achieved an almost hallowed status. It has acquired an extraordinary power to decide societal disputes, interpret the national constitution, and make public policy. One of the most frequently cited cases to demonstrate it is the Court's pronouncement of the victor in the 2000 presidential election. The 2000 presidential contest was one of the most closely divided - and confusing - elections in American history. A month after voters cast their ballots it still was not clear who would become the nation's 43rd president. The deciding votes were cast in the state of Florida, and long after Election Day ended, questions were raised about whether some of Florida's ballots had not been counted because of mechanical errors, and about what should be done if that was the case. Heated speeches were made in the U.S. Congress. Partisans of both candidates, George W. Bush and Al Gore, demonstrated in Florida and throughout the nation in support of their candidates. While the controversy raged, a case about it was brought before the U. S. Supreme Court. The decision by the Court effectively declared Bush the victor over Gore. And that was that. Gore made a speech congratulating Bush. The demonstrators went home. Politicians went on television to declare that it was now time to join forces and get on with the country's business. Not everyone was happy with the court's decision, but there was near-unanimity that it had to be accepted.

Federalism

Photo: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Current CA Governor

American Constitution was very much a reaction to the events that came before it – the struggle of 13 American colonies for independence. The Founding Fathers had several goals in mind, foremost among which was to avoid tyranny. In order to prevent the abuse of power, two different systems were set up – federalism and the system of checks and balances.

Federalism was designed to balance the power between the Federal and State governments and thus limit the powers of the national government. Jefferson and others were convinced that state government was closer to the people and thus more democratic.

In the American federal system, the national (federal) government has certain powers that are granted only to it by the Constitution. The 50 state governments also have powers that the national government is not supposed to exercise. For example, only the federal government may coin money or declare war. But only the state government may establish local governments and conduct elections within the state. Some powers are shared by both federal and state governments, such as the power to tax and borrow money. Some powers are denied to both governments, for example, the power to grant titles of nobility.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 861