D. Checks and Balances

First introduced by the Enlightenment philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, the principle of checks and balances aims to prevent one branch of government or individual from becoming too powerful. Each branch has powers that it can use to check and balance the operations and power of the other two branches.

The Executive Branch

Checks on the Legislature

• • Veto power/Signing bills into law

    • The power of the President to refuse to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevent its enactment into law is the veto. The President has ten days (excluding Sundays) to sign a bill passed by Congress. A regular veto occurs when the President returns the legislation to the house in which it originated, usually with a message explaining the rationale for the veto. A pocket veto occurs when Congress adjourns during the ten-day period. The President cannot return the bill to Congress. The President's decision not to sign the legislation is a pocket veto and Congress does not have the opportunity to override.

  • Vice President is President of the Senate

    • Under the Constitution, the vice president serves as the president of the Senate and presides over the Senate's daily proceedings. In the absence of the vice president, the Senate's president pro tempore (and others designated by him) presides. As one of the Senate's constitutional officers, only the Vice President has the authority to cast a tie-breaking vote.

  • Commander in chief of the military

    • Only Congress has the ability to declare war, but the president is the leader of the armed forces.

Checks on the Judiciary

• • Power to appoint federal judges

  • Pardon power

    • Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution says: “The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” The president’s power can only be used to pardon someone for a federal crime, not a state one.

  • Amnesty power

    • Amnesty is officially forgiving certain classes of persons (who have committed a crime) who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted. It includes more than a legal pardon, because it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense.

The Legislative Branch

Checks on the Executive

• • • Impeachment power (House)

    • Trial of impeachments (Senate)

    • Selection of the President (House) and Vice President (Senate) in the case of no majority of electoral votes

    • May override Presidential vetoes (with 2/3 majority vote)

    • Senate approves departmental appointments by President

    • Senate approves treaties and ambassadors

    • Power to declare war

    • Power to enact taxes and allocate funds

    • President must deliver an annual State of the Union address to Congress

Checks on the Judiciary

• • • Senate approves federal judges

    • Power to initiate constitutional amendments

    • Power to set courts inferior to the Supreme Court

The Judicial Branch

Checks on the Legislature

• • • Judicial review

Checks on the Executive

• • • Judicial review

    • Chief Justice sits as President of the Senate during presidential impeachment