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. 15 marks = 15 minutes Start Timer 10 Minutes 10 Start Timer 5 Minutes 5 8 4 6 3 4 2 2 1 0 0 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? 10 marks = 10 minutes Start Timer 10 Minutes 10 Start Timer 5 Minutes 5 8 4 6 3 4 2 2 1 0 0