Government

The Branches of Government

The Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution contain evidence that the framers feared giving too much authority to the government. They devised several methods to ensure government officials would never have too much authority. One of these methods, which is written into the US Constitution, was a system called “separation of powers,” which divided the government into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. These branches control a different part of the government and they also check the powers of the other branches, so one branch does not become too powerful.

Legislative Branch

  • Passes laws
  • Creates the budget
  • Conducts investigations
  • Confirms appointments
  • Ratifies treaties
  • Impeaches elected officials

Executive Branch

  • Vetoes legislation
  • Creates policies
  • Organizes agencies to enforce laws
  • Conducts foreign policy
  • Chooses appointed officials
  • Maintains the military

Judicial Branch

  • Interprets laws
  • Reviews the constitutionality of laws
  • Makes judgments in court cases

Checks and Balances

The branch system allows the different branches to check and balance each other. This system forces the branches to cooperate and gives each branch authority over some functions of another branch. For example, if the legislative branch wants to make a law, the president, the head of the executive branch, can veto it, which prevents it from becoming law. The judicial branch can declare the law unconstitutional. At the same time, the legislative branch can impeach the president and judges if they do something wrong or corrupt.

The Legislative Branch

This branch is responsible for creating laws. Congress also confirms or denies presidential nominations for heads of federal agencies and judges, sets the budget, and has the authority to declare war.

Congress has two bodies: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Congress is bicameral because of the Great Compromise of 1787. The compromise arose to allow states with a larger population a law-making chamber that mirrored their size, allowing these states to dominate the activities of that house. To balance this, another chamber with equal representation from all states was created to maintain the national power of states with smaller populations.

The House of Representatives

One part of the United States bicameral legislature is the House of Representatives. It is a group of legislators based on the population of the states. The House is led by the speaker of the house who is part of the current majority party. The speaker is also the next in line for the presidency if the vice president is incapable. Currently, there are 435 elected representatives. A representative serves a two-year term with no limit on the number of terms. Their terms are short, so this body can more closely reflect the current public opinion on political issues. The House has many powers assigned to it by the Constitution, such as the power to write the federal budget, introduce bills, impeach federal officials, and elect the president in the case of an Electoral College tie. The House is the part of the government that may declare war.

Headshot of Carl Albert wearing a suit and tie.

Carl Albert served as the Speaker of the House from 1971 to 1976 (23139.G24, John Dunning Political Collection, OHS).

The Senate

The Senate is the other part of the United States’ bicameral legislature. It is composed of two senators per state. There are one hundred senators in the Senate. Senators serve six-year terms and do not have a term limit. The Senate is also different from the House because only one-third of the Senate is elected each election cycle. The Senate has powers assigned to it by the Constitution. These include the powers to confirm the president’s appointments to federal positions, ratify treaties, and try impeachment cases given to it by the House. The Senate has a role in foreign policy through their confirmation of foreign service staff and their responsibility in ratifying treaties concluded by the executive branch.

The Executive Branch

The President

This branch is responsible for carrying out and enforcing laws. The head of the executive branch is the president. The president has many roles and they include:

  • This branch is responsible for carrying out and enforcing laws. The head of the executive branch is the president. The president has many roles and they include:
  • Chief of state: The president is the leader of the country
  • Chief executive: The president enforces laws, appoints key federal and grants pardons
  • Commander in chief: The president leads the military
  • Chief diplomat: The president negotiates with other countries
  • Chief legislator: The president signs bills into laws, introduces legislation. and works on the budget with Congress
  • Head of the party: The president helps their party with raising money and electing candidates

The president is not directly elected the way senators and representatives are. During a presidential election, people vote for electors to send to the Electoral College. These electors cast their votes, and they actually elect the president.

The Vice President

The vice president, or VP, is the president’s second-in-command. They have their own responsibilities but their most important job is to run the country if the president is incapable (Article II, Section 1, US Constitution). Some of their other roles are running the Senate and breaking tie votes in that body. The vice president also collects the electoral votes for the presidential candidates and announces it in front of Congress.

A rendering of Aaron Burr with glasses on his head, a high white collar, a high, dark vest, and a wide-lapelled jacket.

The election of Aaron Burr to the vice presidency convinced many people that they had to change the rules for electing the president and vice president (image courtesy National Archives).

The Cabinet

The cabinet is a tradition from the beginning of the presidency as well as an interpretation of Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution. It is a group of the heads of executive departments such as the secretaries of defense, education, and treasury, as well as the vice president and the attorney general. This group helps inform the president on issues.

Federal Agencies

These agencies are separate from the presidential cabinet. They are established by statutes passed by Congress. They are very similar to the executive departments because federal agencies report to the president. However, unlike the executive departments where a secretary is confirmed and fired by the president, in federal agencies the head is chosen by the president but cannot be removed by them. This helps limit the power of the president while opening the opportunity for diverse opinions to be heard by the president. Examples of independent federal agencies include the Central Intelligence Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Reserve.

The Judicial Branch

This branch is responsible for interpreting the meaning of laws, applying laws to cases, and deciding if laws violate the Constitution. Some courts within the judicial branch conduct trials to determine if a defendant has violated a law (criminal) or caused an injury (civil) to another party. In a criminal trial, the prosecuting party is the government. Sometimes, a guilty verdict can result in the incarceration of a person. A civil case is where one person or group sues another person or group over an issue that has caused a problem and they cannot come to an agreement about how it should be solved. There are three types of courts in the federal judiciary: district courts, circuit courts, and the Supreme Court. The president appoints judges and they are confirmed by the Senate.

District Courts

District courts are the lowest level of court in the federal government, and include the bankruptcy court, Court of International Trade, and the US Court of Federal Claims. District courts conduct both civil and criminal trials. There are ninety-four district courts across the US. The goal of these courts is to get the facts of a case and reach a verdict using a judge and jury.

Court of Appeals

These courts are the next highest level in the judicial branch. There are thirteen appellate courts across twelve regional circuits, which were created by organizing the ninety-four federal judicial districts. The thirteenth court is called the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and can hear special cases from other specialized courts such as the Court of International Trade. The goal of these courts is to see if the district courts applied the law correctly to court cases. These courts consist of three judges and do not use a jury. The appellate courts only examine if the district court came to its decision properly. They do not retry cases or offer new chances for the case to be heard if new evidence is discovered.

The Supreme Court

This is the highest court in the United States. Article III of the US Constitution directs the creation of the Supreme Court, which has final authority over all court cases. It is made up of nine justices: a chief justice and eight associate justices. These are nominated by the president, confirmed by the Senate, and serve for life. A lifetime appointment allows justices to make unpopular opinions because they cannot be thrown out of office as a result of their ruling.

Only the Supreme Court has the power to decide if a law is constitutional or not. This is called judicial review and was established by the court case Marbury v. Madison in 1803. There are many court systems in other countries that do not have judicial review. Decisions are reached by the justices choosing a side. Most of the time, decisions require five justices to support it.