Brandon Jessurun

Government
Mr. Burnham
10/10/14
Constitution Op-Ed
The government was founded on principles that are written in the Constitution.
Over time, as the country has matured and the world changed the government has
changed and made many amendments to the Constitution. These changes are being used
to give the government more power and making the government bigger. The government
is creating loopholes in the law so they can do borderline unconstitutional things and add
to their power. The executive branch uses its power to put into office whoever will find
favor with them and sway things the presidents way. The legislative branch has recently
become a collection of shady politicians that lose more and more approval rating as the
days go by. The judicial branch makes rulings to empower the government. The
government should be serving the people like it was founded to do but instead it has
become a game of the two main parties fighting each other for majorities.
The legislative branch currently has been its lowest ever during this term and
shows no signs of rebounding. This is due to the vast mistrust of the people in their
Congress and the general shadiness that Congress has been dealing in. With the
upcoming mid-terms in November I expect there to be a lot of change in Congress due to
their poor performance so far. In the news there are constantly stories of congressman
resigning due to dirt that is dug up about them. The legislative branch should be a
cooperation of the House and the Senate but with each house of Congress having a
separate majority. In Article 1, Section 1 the Constitution specifically states that these
two houses are given all the legislative power however most of the time these houses are
arguing against each other or fighting for a win in their party rather than a win for the
country.
The executive branch has abused its power and has done a poor job this term of
keeping the Constitution. The president has found ways to push his agendas to the
forefront when there are other more important things at hand. Obama has abused his
power by using it to bypass Congress on things like immigration, Obama care and
decisions on foreign affairs. When the president is sworn in he says this statement, "I do
solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the
United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States"(Article 3, Section 1). This outlines the presidents job
description, however as the time progresses Obama continues to find ways to try to tread
the line between constitutional and unconstitutional. A large issue with this was the
recent issue with the FCC. The FCC wants to regulate and monitor the Internet and by
doing so violate the freedoms and rights that we as Americans are given. After
undergoing judicial review, which was called to see if what the FCC was doing was
constitutional, the Supreme Court concluded, the FCC does not have the power to
regulate the Internet." The FCC disregarded this order and has a plan to begin regulating
the Internet soon. The president, who is a large supporter of net neutrality, did nothing
about it when the FCC disobeyed and continues to support the FCCs request today.
Whatever happened to the Supreme Courts ruling being the final verdict?(Article 3). The
executive branch is supporting a government agency directly disobeying a Supreme

Court order. Another large power of the executive branch is the ability to appoint judges.
This power is located in Article 2, Section 2 and describes the job that the branch has of
appointing its own Supreme Court Justices. The biggest part about this is because just a
few judges can tip the majority of the Court in favor of strict or loose construction. If the
court favors loose then there will be many rulings in favor of the people who are asking if
the bill is unconstitutional. If the court is strict then the interpretation of the Constitution
is tight and many things may be declared unconstitutional. Giving the president the power
to change this majority does not just affect his term but the power of the court for the next
few terms. This power is so important that if the appointment is not done properly
problems can occur. This happened at the end of President Adams presidency when his
Secretary of State failed to deliver documents commissioning William Marbury as Justice
of the Peace. When Thomas Jefferson was sworn in, in order to keep members of the
opposing political party from taking office, he told James Madison to not deliver the
documents to Marbury. Marbury then sued James Madison asking the Supreme Court to
issue a mandate that required him to deliver the documents necessary to officially
make Marbury Justice of the Peace. The Marbury v. Madison decision resulted in
establishment of the concept of judicial review.
The judicial branch has recently begun to gain more and more power in the
government. Although they are not spoken of often in the news, the judicial branch
carries a heavy influence in the role of the government. As the branch that holds the
power of judicial review this branch can control what the other two branches do and can
easily shoot down a bill by calling it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court does a fairly
good job with determining what is constitutional and not and tries to keep out of the
politics, but as the years go by I predict that eventually having the majority in the
Supreme Court will become just as big as having it in the House or Senate.
Our Constitution dictates a strict collection of rules that our government needs to
follow but as time progresses; our government adapts more of a loose constructionist
view and becomes more unconstitutional. There is no branch of government that is
untouched by the corruption of power. Each branch fights and scrambles trying to give
itself more power rather than working together to fix the issues at hand. As the
government makes more and more unwise decisions, the people lose more and more faith
in what their country can do for them.