• House of Representatives
– Duties:
• Senate
– Duties:
• the power to initiate revenue bills,
impeach federal officials, and elect the
President in the case of an electoral
college tie
– Structure:
• 435 elected members, divided among
the 50 states in proportion to their total
population
• 6 non-voting members, representing the
District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and five
territories of the United States
• Speaker of the House elected by the
Representatives to lead meetings
– 3rd in the line of succession to
Presidency
– Criteria for Office:
• Elected every 2 years and must be 25
years of age, U.S. citizen for at least 7
years, a resident of the state (but not
necessarily the district) they represent
• sole power to confirm President's
appointments that require consent,
and to ratify treaties, tries
impeachment cases for federal
officials referred to it by the House.
– Structure:
• 100 Senators, 2 for each state
• The Vice President= President of the
Senate and may cast the decisive
vote in the event of a tie in the
Senate
– Criteria for Office
• Elected every 6 years, must be 30
years of age, U.S. citizen for at least 9
years, and resident of state they
represent
• President’s
Responsibilities
– Head of State
– Head of Government
– Implementing/enforcing
laws written by Congress
– Appoints the heads of the
federal agencies, including
the Cabinet
 The Vice President is also
part of the Executive
Branch
 ready to assume the
Presidency should the need
arise.
• Duties:
– Federal courts: sole power to interpret the
law, determine the constitutionality of the
law, and apply it to individual cases.
• can compel the production of evidence and
testimony through the use of a subpoena.
• Once the Supreme Court interprets a law,
inferior courts must apply the Supreme
Court's interpretation to the facts of a
particular case.
• Structure:
– Judges and justices serve no fixed term —
they serve until their death, retirement, or
conviction by the Senate.
• Allows them to apply the law with only justice
in mind, and not electoral or political
concerns
• Criteria
– Selected by President
• Federal judges can only be removed through
impeachment by the House of
Representatives and conviction in the Senate.
• U.S. Constitution wanted to protect against a
strong national government
• Separated the government’s powers into three
branches: the executive, legislative and
judicial
• System of “checks and balances.” Each branch
has certain powers to “check”, the other
branches and make sure that power is
balanced among them.
•
http://www.whitehouse.gov/our_government/
• Legislative– Writes laws
– Power to veto legislation Power to declare laws unconstitutional
• Executive– Enforces laws
– Can override Executive’s veto Can reject judicial nominations
– Power to declare acts of the Executive unconstitutional
• Judicial –
– Upholds and protect constitutional laws/strikes down
unconstitutional laws
– Nominates federal judges Confirms or rejects federal judicial
nominations
• http://library.thinkquest
.org/5873/the.htm
• http://bensguide.gpo.g
ov/9-12/index.html
• http://highschoolace.co
m/ace/government.cfm
•
•
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