Government Checks And Balances

There have been checks and balances since the ratification of the constitution. The government has been split it into three different branches of government, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch. Checks and balances are needed to keep each branch of government in order, otherwise one branch may become stronger than the others and political anarchy could occur. This is exactly why checks and balances are needed. Checks and balances are basically what each branch of government holds control over the other branches of government. Between the three branches of government there is always a check and balance, the judicial branch has power over the legislative and executive branches and the same goes for the legislative

Take the legislative branch for example. The legislative branch is the branch of government that creates the laws that our country follows. However, what if the legislative branch abused this power and started to create laws that could restrict the people’s rights. Luckily, two checks and balances prevent this from happening. The first check and balance is that the judicial branch can interpret congressional statutes and can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. This check and balance is saying that the judicial branch can say what a law passed by Congress actually means and can state that an action of Congress is unconstitutional. This check and balances is very similar to the check and balance the judicial branch has over the executive branch. This means that the judicial branch can take a law passed by Congress and say it means something else. This check and balance enables the judicial branch to perform its main function, which is to judge laws passed by the legislative branch. Another check and balance that prevents the legislative branch from passing whatever law that it wants is a check and balance that involves the executive branch. This check and balance says that the executive branch, specifically the president, can recommend legislation to Congress, veto bills passed by Congress and can

For example, if the judicial branch became too powerful than the other branches of government, then it could create political anarchy. Once again, there are checks and balances that prevent this from happening. Just as in the other checks and balances the other two branches of government have some power over the judicial branch. One check and balance states that the executive branch, the president, can nominate federal judges and may enforce court orders. This means that the president has the ability to decide who can become a federal judge. Also, without the executive branch court orders may not be enforced. Another check and balance that limits the judicial branch’s power is a check a balance between the legislative and judicial branch. This check and balance states that Congress can impeach judges, create lower federal courts and change their rulings on cases. Congress can also set the size of the Supreme Court and can determine how much money people who work in the judicial branch get paid. This limits the power of the judicial branch because Congress can weaken the power of the judicial branch by limiting the amount of money that judges are paid and can make the size of the Supreme Court either very small or very large which can make a difference on how cases brought to the Supreme Court are