CNB George Coșbuc – Year 10 – Human Rights – 2023/24 Worksheet 4: American Democracy The United States is a representative democracy. However, unlike Romania, which is a unitary state, the United States has a federal political system. The US Constitution The cornerstone of American democracy is the Constitution. It was written in 1787 and came into force in 1789. It has only been amended 27 times. This makes the US Constitution the oldest written constitution still in force. The Constitution is important for a number of reasons: • it is the supreme law of the country • it guarantees citizens’ fundamental rights • it establishes the authority of the federal government • it ensures a separation of powers through ‘checks and balances’ The Constitution and Americans’ Civil Liberties The most important of the Constitution’s provisions are: • the right to elect Congress (Article 1) and the right to elect the President (Article 2) • freedom of religion, speech and the press (First Amendment, 1791) • the right to own guns (Second Amendment, 1791) • the right not to incriminate oneself (Fifth Amendment, 1791) • the right to a fair trial (Sixth Amendment, 1791) • then right to equal citizenship of all those born or naturalised in the US; the right to personal liberty (right to privacy) (Fourteenth Amendment, 1868) • the right to vote irrespective of ‘race, color, or previous condition of servitude’ (Fifteenth Amendment, 1870) • the right to vote irrespective of sex (Nineteenth Amendment, 1919) • the right to vote on reaching the age of 18 (Twenty-Sixth Amendment, 1971) Federalism The United States is a federal political system. Federalism means that political power is divided between the federal government in Washington, DC and America’s state governments. Originally, there were 13 states – but there are now 50. The most populous states are California and Texas; the least populous are Vermont and Wyoming. Both the federal government and the state governments have the power to pass and enforce laws within their areas of responsibility. For example, the federal government is responsible for economic policy, foreign relations and trade, whereas state governments are responsible for public health and education. While federal laws apply to all Americans, state laws only apply to people living in that state. An extreme example is the death penalty. This is available for certain federal crimes wherever they are committed in the US. However, only 27 states have the death penalty for certain state crimes; the other 23 states have abolished the death penalty and have replaced it with life imprisonment, usually without parole. The main takeaway here is that some laws in the US differ from state to state. The Federal Government: The Separation of Powers At the federal level, political power is divided between three branches of government – the executive, the legislative and the judicial. This is known as the ‘separation of powers’. The President is elected every four years and can serve for a maximum of two terms. The President is not elected directly by the people. The people in each state elect delegates to an Electoral College. The larger a state’s population, the more delegates it gets.1 The Electoral College then elects the President. It is possible for a candidate to come second in the popular vote, but to get more delegates in the Electoral College. This happened in 2016. 1 There are currently 538 Electoral College votes. The number of delegates for each state is equal to each state’s representation in Congress. For example, in 2020 California had 53 Representatives and 2 Senators – so 55 delegates in the Electoral College. Wyoming had 1 Representative and 2 Senators – so 3 delegates. The number of Representatives is recalculated every 10 years. CNB George Coșbuc – Year 10 – Human Rights – 2023/24 Congress has two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of 100 Senators – two for each state. Senators are elected for a six-year term, but one-third of Senators are elected every two years. The House of Representatives has 435 elected members. The national census is used to distribute Representatives among the states. Representatives are elected every two years. The US Supreme Court consists of nine Justices – one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Justices are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate and serve for life. Appointments to the US Supreme Court have become controversial in recent decades. The US Constitution is a relatively short document that is open to dramatically different interpretations. Democrat Presidents therefore favour the appointment of ‘liberal’ Justices, whereas Republican Presidents favour ‘conservative’ Justices. This does not mean that politicians control the Supreme Court – Justices are robust in defending their independence. Rather, the issue centres on how potential Justices understand and interpret the Constitution. To simplify, ‘conservative’ Justices are more likely to favour a legal doctrine called ‘originalism’ – that is, the Constitution needs to be interpreted as it was originally intended. ‘Liberal’ Justices are more likely to favour a legal doctrine called ‘living constitutionalism’ – that is, the Constitution needs to be interpreted within the context of a changing society. Some of the Supreme Court’s judgments have had a major impact on American society. For example: • Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled that segregating schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. This led to the racial desegregation of schools. • Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) ruled that anyone charged with a serious criminal offence had the right to legal representation – and that the state had to provide an attorney if the accused was unable to afford one. • Roe v. Wade (1973) ruled that a citizen’s right of privacy (personal liberty) extended to a pregnant woman’s right to have an abortion. • Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) ruled that women have no constitutional right to an abortion (reversing Roe v. Wade), leaving abortion law to be decided by each of the 50 states. Checks and Balances The separation of powers is guaranteed by what are called ‘checks and balances’, which place limitations on the powers that each branch of the federal government can exercise. For example: Powers The President can propose new laws Congress can pass new laws Checks and Balances Only Congress can pass new laws The Supreme Court can declare laws to be ‘unconstitutional’ The President can veto a law passed by Congress Congress can overturn a veto by a two-thirds majority The President nominates Supreme Court Justices The Senate has to approve the nominations CNB George Coșbuc – Year 10 – Human Rights – 2023/24 American Democracy: Strengths and Weaknesses In many respects, the United States is a vibrant democracy: • Americans can participate in regular, free and fair elections at the local, state and federal levels. • There is also electoral competition. That is, voters have a choice between candidates representing different political parties, though in reality the political system is dominated by two major parties, namely the centre-left Democrats and the centre-right Republicans. • The United States has a diverse and vibrant media landscape, with thousands of newspapers and radio stations as well as hundreds of television channels. Most Americans are also online. A diverse media allows for the public articulation of different viewpoints. Moreover, journalists are able to hold politicians to account through their reporting and/or commentary. • Americans’ civil liberties are guaranteed in the Constitution and are protected by an independent judiciary, above all the US Supreme Court. • The federal system ensures that internal sovereignty is divided between the federal government and the states; while the Constitution limits the powers of the federal government. However, American democracy is by no means perfect. A number of issues have been raised by commentators: • The US has regular and free elections, but some question how fair these elections are. Politicians need to raise and spend an enormous amount of money to fight elections, which makes it difficult for candidates from smaller parties to compete. • The role of money in American elections means that politicians are potentially susceptible to the influence and pressures of their major financial donors. • There have been accusations that some states engage in ‘voter suppression’ – e.g. making voter registration difficult or requiring ID to be shown when voting – in order to undermine their opponents’ electoral support. These accusations usually focus on the violation of rights of poorer citizens, especially African Americans. • America’s diverse media landscape is actually less diverse than it appears. In particular, American broadcasters are usually privately owned and are not required to be impartial. While there are many outstanding journalists, some news channels editorialise, i.e. adopt an ideological position in presenting the news. • Freedom of the press means respecting the rights of journalists to report without fear or favour. However, in recent years some politicians, above all former President Trump, have openly disparaged the work of journalists, accusing many of them of lying and peddling ‘fake news’. • The importance of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution has led to Presidents nominating ideologically sympathetic Justices. The Supreme Court has therefore become politicised. • The centrality of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution means that important issues (e.g. abortion) are not decided by elected politicians, but by appointed judges. Questions 1. Explain the importance of the US Constitution in guaranteeing Americans’ civil liberties. 2. Explain what is meant by the following terms: • federalism • separation of powers • checks and balances 3. How is the US President elected? Compare this with how the Romanian President is elected. 4. Explain why the US Supreme Court can have a major impact on Americans’ lives.
