5.2 Government by Constitution

发布时间：2011-04-06 09:12:20 来源：文档文库

小中大

字号：

手机查看

Government by Constitution

Separation of powers, checks and balances

The year 1987 marked the 200th anniversary of the US constitution. We all know that the United States is a comparatively young country, but the interesting thing is that its constitution is the oldest written one that has been in continuous use. For over 200 years, it has provided the basis for a stable government and has remained basically unchanged. Today we will try to understand the US government better by looking at two important principles provided by the constitution, these two principles so important to understanding the US government were written into the constitution 200 years ago and are still in effect today. These two principles are (1) the division or separation of power and (2) a system of checks and balances. Before we begin our discussion of these two principles, let's first take a look at the three branches that compose the US government.

To start, the constitution provides for three branches of government. These three branches are: one, the legislative, two, the executive and three, the judicial. First, the legislative branch, which is the congress of the United States, is primarily responsible for enacting or making new laws that are to be followed by the fifty states of the country. Second, the executive branch, which is headed by the president, executes these same laws that originate in the legislature. By signing the laws, the president actually puts the laws into effect. After the president has signed a new law, the executive branch of the government is also responsible for seeing that the new law is enforced or carried out. Well, these are the first two branches, so we are ready to discuss the third branch. Do you recall what the third branch is? You are right if you said the judicial. What do you think the judicial branch does? Well, the judicial branch is primarily responsible for dealing with persons or corporations that are accused of breaking a law or that are involved in any kind of legal dispute. The judicial system also handles trials and other types of court cases. Another very important responsibility of the judicial branch is to review existing laws to make sure that they are consistent with the US constitution, in other words, the judicial branch must judge the legality of laws, using the constitution as a guide.

You already have an idea of what is meant by division of powers from the preceding discussion. Each branch of the government has its specific task in relation to the country's laws. Each branch has its own particular power, then, that is not shared by the other two branches. This division of power was intended by the writers of the constitution, to make sure that no single branch of government could ever have all the power. And what's more, to make sure that no single branch could abuse its power or become more powerful than the other two branches, a system of checks and balances was written into the constitution. This system of checks and balances gives each branch of the government a specific way to check, or keep some control on, each of the other branches. The best way to understand this system of checks and balances might be to discuss a few examples of how it works.

First, let's consider how the executive branch can check the power of the legislative branch. The most obvious example is the presidential power of veto. Suppose the president feels that a law enacted by congress is unwise. If he feels very strongly that the new law is wrong, he may refuse to sign it. Now congress can override a presidential veto, but it is a very difficult thing to do, so a presidential veto may put an end to this new law forever. Now let's look at an example of how the legislative branch, or congress, may check the power of the executive branch. Many of you will have heard of the Watergate scandal which took place in Washington DC, in 1973. In the Watergate affair, president Richard Nixon and his staff were suspected of illegal actions to re-elect Nixon. In such a case, where the executive branch is suspected of illegal or unconstitutional activities, the legislative branch is given the power by the constitution to investigate these activities. If congress believes that illegal activities have actually taken place, it has the power to remove the president from office. This, in fact, did not happen to president Nixon because he resigned, but steps to investigate the legality of his actions had already been initiated by congress at the time that he resigned. For two more examples of checks and balances, let's take a look at two instances in which the judicial branch checked or limited the power of the legislative branch. The first example concerns the legality of abortion. Some years ago, most States in the United States had laws that made abortion illegal. In reviewing these laws in 1973, the US supreme court, which is the highest authority in the judicial branch, found these laws unconstitutional. By finding these laws unconstitutional, the supreme court in effect made abortion legal, therefore women have the right to obtain an abortion in all fifty States today. Our next example concerns civil rights. The supreme court declared unconstitutional state laws that discriminated against African Americans. As a result, it became illegal for any state to practice racial discrimination in any form. Probably the most important effect of this change was the desegregation of the public schools. These are some examples of how the judicial branch checks the power of the legislative branch. These two examples concern state laws, but the supreme court also reviews and determines the constitutionality of federal laws originated in congress, so you can see how powerful the supreme court really is. You might wonder what check the executive or legislative branch has on the judicial branch. Well, first of all, the president is the person who nominates the candidates for the supreme court. After the president nominates a candidate, congress must approve the choice. Because there are only nine supreme court Justices, the opportunity to nominate even one candidate for the supreme court is an opportunity to change the balance of power on the court itself. Any candidate nominated for the supreme court by the president can expect to be questioned very extensively by members of congress about his or her record on such issues as abortion, gun control, separation of church and state, and so on, depending on current political concerns in the country. Under the constitution, each branch of the government, then, must answer to the other two branches. Therefore, ideally, no one branch can exercise too much power or abuse the power that it has. From time to time, one branch of the government appears to be quite a bit more powerful than one or both of the other branches, but this imbalance of power does not usually last a long time. In the long run, each branch guards its own power quite vigorously, and all three branches check and balance one another's power.