osed of the House and Senate, is set up in Article 1; the Executive, composed of the President, Vice-President, and the Departments, is set up in Article 2; the Judicial, composed of the federal courts and the Supreme Court, is set up in Article 3. Each of these branches has certain powers, and each of these powers is limited.
The First Article of the U.S. Constitution says, “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” These words clearly define the most important power of Congress: to legislate for the United States. At the same time, the framers granted some specific powers to Congress. Congress has the power to impeach both executive officials and judges. The Senate tries all impeachments. Besides, Congress can override a Presidential veto. Congress may also influence the composition of the judicial branch. It may establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court and set their jurisdiction. Furthermore, Congress regulates the size of the courts. Judges are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The compensation of executive officials and judges is determined by Congress, but Congress may not increase or diminish the compensation of a President, or diminish the compensation of a judge, during his term in office. Congress determines its own members’ emoluments as well. In short, the main powers of the Legislature include: Legislating all federal laws; establishing all lower federal courts; being able to override a Presidential veto; being able to impeach the President as well as other executive officials.
Executive power is vested in the President by the U.S. Constitution in Article 2. The principal responsibility of the President is to ensure that all laws are faithfully carried out. The President is the chief executive officer of the federal government. He is the leader of the executive branch and the commander in chief of the armed forces. He has the power to make treaties with other nations, with the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate. The President also appoints, with Senate consent, diplomatic representatives, Supreme Court judges, and many other officials. Except impeachment, he also has the power to issue pardons and reprieves. Such pardons are not subject to confirmation by either house of Congress, or even to acceptance by the recipient. Another important power granted to the President is veto power over all bills, but Congress, as noted above, may override any veto except for a pocket veto by a two-thirds majority in each house. When the two houses of Congress cannot agree on a date for adjournment, the President may settle the dispute. Either house or both houses may be called into emergency session by the President.
The judicial power—the power to decide cases and controversies—is vested in the Supreme Court and inferior court established by Congress. The following are the powers of the Judiciary: the power to try federal cases and interpret the laws of the nation in those cases; the power to declare any law or executive act unconstitutional. The power granted to the courts to determine whether legislation is consistent with the Constitution is called judicial review. The concept of judicial review is not written into the Constitution, but was envisioned by many of the framers. The Supreme Court established a precedent for judicial review in Marbury v. Madison. The precedent established the principle that a court may strike down a law it deems unconstitutional.
3. Checks and Balances
The framers of the U.S. Constitution saw checks and balances as essential for the security of liberty under the Constitution. They believed that by balancing the powers of the three governmental branches, the efforts in human nature toward tyranny could be checked and restrained. John Adams praised the balanced government as the “most stupendous fabric of human invention.” In his A Defense of the Constitution of Government of the United States of America (1787), he wrote, “In the m