Checks & Balances
Checks and Balances
• Examples of Checks and Balances
• EXAM FOCUS
• Political Importance of Checks and Balances
Checks & Balances
Checks on…
Checks by…
The legislature
The legislature
The executive
• Recommend
legislation
• Veto legislation
The judiciary
• Judicial Review
The executive
The judiciary
• Amend/delay/reject
legislation
• Override president’s
veto
• Power of the purse
• Declare war
• Ratify treaties (Senate)
• Investigation
• Impeachment, trial,
conviction and removal
from office
• Impeachment,
trial, conviction,
removal from
office
• Propose
constitutional
amendments
• Issue new
legislation to
overturn rulings
• Appointment of
judges
• Pardon
• Judicial Review
Checks on the Judiciary by the Executive
• President Obama signed
into law the Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act of 2009.
• This effectively overturns
the Supreme Court’s
infamous 2007 ruling
against Ms. Ledbetter in
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire
& Rubber Co., a ruling that
made it much harder for
workers who have been
victims of unlawful pay
discrimination to obtain
compensation for that
discrimination.
• Presidential pardon of
Randy Eugene Dyer in 2011.
• Convicted of importing and
trafficking drugs from
Mexico in 1975 he spent 3
years in prison. After his
release he became a Godfearing family man who has
preached and ministered to
prisoners for over 30 years.
• Obama has pardoned only
17 people in his presidency
(9 people in December 2010
and 8 people in May 2011).
Checks on the Judiciary by the Legislature
• Judge G. Thomas Porteous, a
federal judge was found guilty
on 4 articles of impeachment
by the Senate in December
2008.
• In March 2008, the House of
Representatives voted
unanimously to impeach
Porteous on corruption
charges.
• He was found to have been
corrupt, taken bribes, lied to
the Senate and the FBI.
•
•
•
•
•
4 out of 27 amendments overturn
Supreme Court decisions.
The 11th Amendment overturned
Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) by
guaranteeing the immunity of states
from lawsuits by citizens of another
state or a foreign country.
The 14th Amendment nullified Scott
v. Sandford (1857) by guaranteeing
the civil rights and citizenship of
African Americans.
The 16th Amendment overrode
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co.
(1895) by giving Congress the power
to levy an income tax.
The 26th Amendment negated
Oregon v. Mitchell (1970) by
permitting 18-year-olds to vote in
state elections.
Checks on the Executive by the Legislature
• Congress over-rode
President Bush's veto of
legislation protecting
doctors from a 10.6 percent
cut in their reimbursement
rates when treating
Medicare patients in 2008.
• The override vote in the
House (383:41) easily met
the two-thirds threshold
needed to nullify the
president's veto. About an
hour later, the Senate voted
to override, 70:26.
• The best way to thwart a
president’s policies deemed
unpopular by the Congress
is to use the “power of the
purse” and simply defund
existing programs or refuse
to appropriate future funds,
effectively killing them.
• Republicans who won
election to the 112th
Congress are threatening to
deny funding in an effort to
kill the March 2010 Patient
Protection and Affordable
Care Act.
Checks on the Executive by the Judiciary
• In August 2010 the 11th
Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld a lower court
ruling that the so-called
individual mandate
provision of the Patient
Protection and Affordable
Care Act (Obamacare) is
unconstitutional.
• A Supreme Court case is
now more than likely to
be heard on the issue in
2012.
• Bush v Gore (2000) found
that the manual recount
scheme devised by
Florida state Supreme
Court was
unconstitutional because
it violated the ‘equal
protection’ clause of the
Constitution’s 14th
Amendment.
• This effectively handed
the election to George W
Bush.
Checks on the Legislature by the Judiciary
• McConnell v. FEC (2003) found
parts of the Bipartisan
Campaign Reform Act of 2002
(BCRA), which amended the
Federal Election Campaign Act
of 1971 (FECA) to be
unconstitutional because it
burdens parties’ right to make
unlimited independent
expenditures, and prohibiting
persons “17 years old or
younger” from contributing to
candidates or political parties,
is invalid as violating the First
Amendment rights of minors.
• Texas v. Johnson (1989)
found the any law prohibiting
burning of the American flag is
unconstitutional as violating
the First Amendment.
• The only way Congress can
prohibit flag burning is to
introduce a constitutional
amendment.
• The most recent attempt to
adopt a flag desecration
amendment failed in the
United States Senate by one
vote on June 27, 2006.
Checks on the Legislature by the Executive
• In December 2009 Obama • His 2nd veto in October
2010 was a housing
vetoed House Joint
foreclosure bill.
Resolution 64 essentially
rejecting a spending bill
• Sometimes the threat of a
that duplicated another
veto can be an effective
spending bill he had
tool, and Obama has
already signed.
publicly threatened to
veto bills during the
• The override attempt
112th Congress - such as
failed in House.
House GOP legislation
• Obama has only used 2
proposed earlier this
vetoes so far.
spring when the
government shutdown
was looming.
EXAM FOCUS
Using examples, explain the
limitations on the Supreme
Court’s powers.
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Political Importance
Define;
a) Bipartisanship
b) Divided government
Definitions
Bipartisanship
Close cooperation between the two major
parties.
Divided Government
A situation in which one political party controls
the presidency and another controls one or both
houses of Congress.
Political Importance
• The checks and balances between the 3 branches
of government have important consequences for
US politics.
• They encourage a spirit of bipartisanship and
compromise between the President and
Congress.
• Laws are passed, treaties ratified, appointments
confirmed and budgets fixed only when both
branches work together rather than pursue a
partisan approach.
Bipartisanship & Partisanship
Bipartisanship Approach
• Obama nominated several
Republicans to serve in his
Cabinet.
• Judd Gregg as Secretary of
Commerce (withdrew)
• Bob Gates as Secretary of
Defense (served GWB retired July 2011)
• Ray LaHood as Secretary of
Transport (serving)
Partisan Approach
• Obama’s Health Care was
passed by the House by a
vote of 219:212 (all 178
Republicans voted NO, as
well as 34 Democrats).
• Obama had promised to
tame partisanship in
Congress, but staked his
presidency (and possibly his
re-election) on a strongly
partisan approach.
Divided Government
• The instances of one party controlling the
executive, and the other party controlling the
legislature have become more frequent in
recent years.
• Divided government has become the norm in
US politics:
1901 – 1949 – 8 years of DG
1949 – 1981 – 16 years of DG
1981 - 2013 – 25.5 years of DG
Divided Government
1901-2013
Year
1901–1903
1903–1905
1905–1907
1907–1909
1909–1911
1911-1913
1913–1915
1915–1917
1917–1919
1919-1921
1921–1923
1923–1925
P
R
R
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
R
R
S
R
R
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
R
R
R
H
R
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
R
R
R
Year
1925–1927
1927–1929
1929–1931
1931-1933
1933–1935
1935–1937
1937–1939
1939–1941
1941–1943
1943–1945
1945–1947
1947-1949
P
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
S
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
R
H
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
R
Year
P
S
H
Year
P
S
H
1949–1951
1951–1953
1953–1955
1955-1957
1957-1959
1959-1961
1961–1963
1963–1965
1965–1967
1967–1969
1969-1971
1971-1973
1973-1975
1975-1977
1977–1979
1979–1981
D
D
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
1981-1983
1983-1985
1985-1987
1987-1989
1989-1991
1991-1993
1993–1995
1995-1997
1997-1999
1999-2001
2001-2003
2003–2005
2005–2007
2007-2009
2009–2011
2011-2013
R
R
R
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
R
R
R
R
D
D
R
R
R
D
D
D
D
R
R
R
D/R
R
R
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
D
R
R
R
R
R
R
D
D
R
EXAM FOCUS
Does divided government
make the checks and balances
between Congress and the
president more or less
effective?
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