page_title: U.S. Congress in relation to the president and Supreme Court
section_title: Checks and balances
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Congress in relation to the president and Supreme Court / Checks and balances
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the United States Capitol from the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., USA. Čeština: Pohled na Kapitol z budovy Nejvyššího soudu Spojených států.
context_page_description: The U.S. Congress in relation to the president and Supreme Court has the role of chief legislative body of the United States. However, the Constitution's Framers built a system in which three powerful branches of the government, using a series of checks and balances, could limit each other's power. As a result, it helps to understand how Congress interacts with the presidency as well as the Supreme Court to understand how it operates as a group.
context_section_description: Congressperson Lee Hamilton explained about how Congress functions within American government:
  To me the key to understanding it is balance. The founders went to great lengths to balance institutions against each other––balancing powers among the three branches: Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court; between the House of Representatives and the Senate; between the federal government and the states; among states of different sizes and regions with different interests; between the powers of government and the rights of citizens, as spelled out in the Bill of Rights ... no one part of government dominates the other.
  The Constitution provides checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government. The authors of the Constitution expected the greater power to lie with Congress as described in Article One.
  The influence of Congress on the presidency has varied from one period to another; the degree of power depending largely on the leadership of the Congress, political influence by the president, or other members of congress and the boldness of the president's initiatives. Under the first half-dozen presidents, power seems to have been evenly divided between the president and Congress, in part because early presidents largely restricted their vetoes to bills that were unconstitutional. In 1863, New York governor Horatio Seymour believed Congress to be the "most influential branch." The impeachment of Andrew Johnson made the presidency much less powerful than Congress. During the late 19th century, President Grover Cleveland aggressively attempted to restore the executive branch's power, vetoing over 400 bills during his first term, although historians today view Cleveland as exhibiting merely "boring, stolid competence."
  The 20th and 21st centuries have seen the rise of the power of the Presidency under Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09), Woodrow Wilson (1913–21), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45), Richard Nixon (1969–74), Ronald Reagan (1981–89), and George W. Bush (2001–09) (see Imperial Presidency). In recent years, Congress has restricted the powers of the President with laws such as the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the War Powers Resolution; nevertheless, the Presidency remains considerably more powerful than during the 19th century. Executive branch officials are often loath to reveal sensitive information to congresspersons because of possible concern that such information could not be kept secret; knowing they may be in the dark about executive branch activity, congressional officials are more likely to distrust their counterparts in executive agencies. Further, many government actions require fast coordinated effort by many agencies, and this is a task that Congress is ill-suited for. Congress is slow, open, divided, and not well matched to handle more rapid executive action or do a good job of overseeing such activity.
  The Constitution concentrates removal powers in the Congress by empowering and obligating the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials (both executive and judicial) for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Senate is constitutionally empowered and obligated to try all impeachments. A simple majority in the House is required to impeach an official; however, a two-thirds majority in the Senate is required for conviction. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office in the future.
  Impeachment proceedings may not inflict more than this; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (Another resigned before the Senate could complete the trial). Only three Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1999, and Donald Trump in 2019. All trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the 
caption: View of the United States Capitol from the United States Supreme Court building
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