The Balance of Power

The framers of the constitution originally envisioned that the congress, the president and the judiciary would have discrete powers and that one branch would be able to hold the other in check. The main function of Separation of Powers is to do just that, separate powers. The responsibilities of the Government are divided into the three branches in order to prevent one branch from having absolute power and in turn abusing that power. The basic idea of Separation of Powers is that each branch has its own areas of authority and its own roles. The idea of checks and balances, like separation of powers, lies in its title. Each branch has the power to check and balance the actions of the other two branches. This system was also put in place to insure that not one branch received too much power. Over the years, and especially since the 1930s, the president often has held the upper hand. In times of crisis, congress willingly has handed over its authority to the chief executive, for example, FDR during the great depression.

The balance of power between the congress and the executive has fluctuated tremendously over time. Although congress was most powerful in the early years of U.S. history, since the New Deal, the president has played an important role in proposing legislation and spending. For example, the president is named by the Constitution as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, giving him an incredibly powerful position in times of war. The Framers worried that the president's wartime role was too powerful, in fact, and thus gave Congress a powerful set of checks and balances on the president's war powers. Only Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war. Perhaps even more important, only Congress has the power to pay for wartime expenses. That means that if the president tries to launch an ill-advised military escapade, Congress can effectively pull the plug, forcing the president to bring his troops home by refusing to fund their continued deployment. Another example is that the president can veto acts of Congress. Thus if the executive tries to pass laws that the president believes are unconstitutional or even just bad policy, the president can veto it and prevent the bill from becoming law. The veto is perhaps the president's most powerful means of checking and balancing Congress. The framers also gave congress the power to re check the president’s veto power. The congress can override the president’s veto if it can get two-thirds vote from both its houses.  

Congress and the judiciary also have an ongoing power struggle. Although the judiciary can declare acts of congress unconstitutional, Congress also exercises control over the judiciary in a variety of ways. It has the constitutional authority to establish the size of the Supreme Court, its appellate jurisdiction, and the structure of the federal court system.