Question

How is power checked and balanced in the national government?

Answer 1

A good song from the 70's school house rock is 3 ring circus. Neither branch has the power to overpower the other completely except in very rare circumstances.

Answer 2

what?

Answer 3

Basically, they can outvote eachother except in cases like marshal law. Individually they each have their own balances, as in the way the House and the Senate take from the states and how the executive (president) is elected.

This differs from many goverments where one person has the final say....the president can be overruled in MOST cases.

Answer 4

great explanation. thanx!

Answer 5

Within the United States government, there are both formal and informal ways.

For example, the Executive can check the Legislative formally through the veto or through recess appointments. Informally, the President can use the "bully pulpit" to exert public pressure on legislators, or can creatively interpret how he is to interpret statute, or appeal to his Article II powers, which are not subject to Congressional oversight, such as with respet to the internment of foreign nationals on the battlefield (Guantanamo, "warrantless" wiretapping of overseas calls, et cetera).

The Legislature checks the Executive formally through the passage of laws, of course, including most importantly those laws that spend money. (The Legislature could, for example, shut down Guantanamo by refusing to allocate money for running it in the budget.) Informally, the Legislature exerts power over the Executive by holding Congressional hearings, which are the "bully pulpit" for the Legislative Branch, like the current hearings in the House on the "Fast and Furious" scandal, in which the Obama Administration helped guns cross into Mexico and into the hands of Mexican drug gangs. The Legislature also has the power to consent, or not, to Executive officer appointments (like the Cabinet Secretaries) or to judicial appointments.