How is the Power divided in the US Government

B.  The Structure of the Federal Government

1.  Legislative Branch

Article I of the Constitution vests the legislative power of the Untied States in a bicameral Congress.  The Congress is composed of the House of Representatives, the members of which are elected for two-year terms and represent districts of  equal numbers of  people, and the Senate which is composed of two senators from each state who serve for six-years terms.  Senators were originally chosen by the state legislature, but are now directly elected.  The composition of the House and Senate represented a compromise between the larger states, which wanted a legislature based on population and the smaller states, which wanted equal representation for each state.  A majority of both houses must pass all bills, and if the President vetoes a bill, a two-thirds majority of both houses is required for the bill to become law.

The powers of Congress are listed in Article I, Section 8, and Congress may not exercise any not power listed there.  But those powers encompass many areas, including taxing and spending, coining and borrowing money, controlling interstate and foreign commerce, maintaining an army and navy, and declaring war.  Several of these powers have been interpreted very broadly, especially the power to regulate interstate commerce and the power to “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” for carrying out all their other powers.  Congress also has broad authority to delegate many of its powers to the President and to administrative agencies.

2.  Executive Branch

The power of the executive branch is vested in the President.  The President is elected for a four-year term, not by direct election but by the electoral college.  Under this system, each state has a number of members of the electoral college equal to the number of members of the House and Senate.  The candidate who receives the largest number of votes in a state gets all the electoral votes of that state.  The candidate with a majority of the electoral college becomes the President.  If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the winner is chosen by the House of Representatives.  To be eligible to be President one must be thirty-five years old and a natural born citizen of the United States.  Under the Twenty-second Amendment, no person may serve as President more than twice.

The powers explicitly granted to the President in Article II are quite important, but limited in number.  The President is the Commander in Chief of the Army.  He also has the power to grant pardons and reprieves and has the power, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, and to appoint federal judges, ambassadors, and other public Officers of the United States.  The extent of the President’s inherent power over matters not explicitly provided for in the Constitution is subject to debate.  The power to conduct foreign affairs has been held to be inherent in the office, but the Supreme Court has been less willing to extend inherent powers in the domestic area.

The President is subject to control by Congress in several ways.  Congress has the last word on many disputes with its ability to pass laws, even over the President’s veto.  The President’s most important appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate.  Finally, the President may be removed from office if impeached by the House and convicted by two-thirds of the Senate of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

3.  The Judicial Branch

The Constitution grants the judicial power of the United States to one Supreme Court and other inferior courts that may be created by Congress.  Federal judges are appointed for life by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate.

All federal courts are, under the Constitution, courts of limited jurisdiction. They may hear only “cases or controversies,” which means that they cannot perform non-judicial functions or give advice to the President or Congress about the constitutionality of  proposed action.  They cannot hear all kinds of cases, but only those listed as within the judicial power of the United States, as laid out in Article III.  The kinds of cases listed in Article III were chosen to protect various interests of the United States.  The federal courts are also subject to the will of Congress in so far as it can distribute and even limit the jurisdiction of the various federal courts.

The federal courts have one power not enjoyed by courts in some other countries.  They may declare a statute enacted by Congress to be in violation of the Constitution and therefore invalid.  This power of judicial review was established by the Supreme Court in 1803, in the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison.  If the Supreme Court declares a Congressional Statute unconstitutional, normally the only way to change this result is to use the difficult process of amending the Constitution.

Although the Supreme Court is in one sense the final arbiter of the meaning of the Constitution, this power is not unlimited.  The Court cannot enforce its judgments without the cooperation of the executive branch, and is subject, at least in some measure, to control over its jurisdiction by Congress.  The Court itself has relinquished the power to interpret certain areas of the Constitution, saying that is committed by the Constitution to other branches of government.  For example, the Court has determined that the power to judge the qualifications of members of Congress has been entrusted by the Constitution solely to Congress itself, and has refused to act in such matters.