The American System

The American system of government is one of the strongest in the world. It has survived over 200 years in part because of the people, but largely because of the careful way it is set up. Complete with three equal branches of government (the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), the United States’ approach to government ensures control over the three branches through the system of checks and balances. While each branch is given its own specific constitutional authority over the other and unto itself, there are times when a certain branch of government may overstep its power. With over two centuries of consistent growth, the Executive Branch has expanded its authority the most and its’ powers have most often been found to be overreaching. In contrast, the Judicial Branch has been most effective at maintaining its limited power over the other branches and has most visibly upheld its limited constitutional authority throughout the course of the past two centuries.

            The Executive Branch of government, outlined in Article 2 of the Constitution, has very limited powers; these powers, obtained by the President, include (1) the position of Commander-in-Chief of the military, (2) the power to make foreign treaties (3) appoint cabinet members and federal judges and (4) give a State of the Union address to Congress. These limited powers have grown vastly - even within the last decade. This ever-growing problem started to gain momentum in the 1930s with President Roosevelt. With FDR’s New Deal came huge amounts of government programs and an increase in executive agencies and authorities. This problem escalated into the 1960s when the term “The Imperial Presidency” was coined by historian, Arthur Schlesinger, and his observation of the modern presidency up until Richard Nixon. Perhaps it was this awareness of the increasing size of the Executive Branch which initiated the War Powers Resolution of 1973. This resolution sought to clarify the War Powers Act of 1941 which blatantly gave the President vast authority and the means to execute World War II. Since this time and into the 21^st century, we’ve seen the passage of the Patriot Act of 2001 which has given the Executive Branch the power and capability to use secret surveillance techniques, amongst other enhanced improved intelligence devices, in order to intercept terrorists’ plots. In more recent years, President Obama has not only continued to use the power of Executive Privilege in an effort to maintain secrecy within the branch, but he has increased the amount of government Czars and appointments, all of whom are not subject to congressional approval. By the structure of the Constitution, it seems that the Founding Fathers never intended the executive branch to be this vast and powerful. In fact, the position of “President” wasn’t developed until the final days of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. This ever-growing branch of government has proven to be the biggest offender of constitutional violations and has most visibly overreached its’ authority consistently throughout history.

            Dealing most intimately with interpreting the constitution, and the stringency that is required to do so, has allowed the Judicial Branch to uphold its constitutional authority the best. The Judicial Branch of the United States, comprised of nine Supreme Court justices, has most strictly maintained its’ constitutional authority stated in the Constitution while remaining completely functional and greatly influential. With the power of Judicial Review, this branch of government is constantly on watch and thoroughly knows the boundaries of the Constitution. Perhaps it is because of the Supreme Court’s ill-incentive to act under political pressure that it has been able to accomplish so much while maintaining the integrity of the institution. While it can be argued that the Supreme Court has the ability to “legislates from the bench,” this concept is paradoxical in that the Supreme Court inevitably “legislates from the bench” when it strikes down laws and declares bills to be unconstitutional. While it doesn’t physically write down laws like Congress, the act of rejection does amount to something of influence. However, throughout the course of two centuries, the Supreme Court has never increased in size and it still remains the smallest branch of government.

            It is important that our government remains closely bound to the limits of the Constitution. We’ve seen the powers of the President and the Executive Branch increase profoundly over the last two centuries. It seems that a new executive or governmental agency is born every day while the powers of the President become increasingly greyer. On the other hand, the Judicial Branch of our government, acting in strict coherence to the powers given to it by the Constitution, has remained an important element in maintaining the checks and balances of our federal system.