Anthony Collins Checks and Balances The USs highest law is the constitution.

When it was written, It was designed to keep one political group to have all or too much power. The reason that are ancestors separated the powers was a democratic plan the would make the government benefit the people not to control them. The US government is divided into three main branches, the judicial, the executive and the legislative. The branches of government were created to balance out the power. Each branch has its own specific duty in maintaining this balance each branch has the ability to supervise and regulate the other two. This system is known as checks and balances. Legislative Branch and its powers are laid out in Article I of The Constitution. This branch consists of Congress, and Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Legislative Branchs powers are as follows: Write laws, pass laws, approve taxes, give permission to borrow money, set the budget, have the exclusive power to declare war, can open an investigation, usually assigns someone to be the head of the Executive Branch, occasionally appoints judges, and approve treaties. The Senate has the power to put government official on trial for impeachment. The Congress can decide the amount executive officials get paid, but Congress can not increase or decrease the Presidents pay and con not decrease a judges pay while he is still in office. The Executive Branch and its powers are explained in Article II of the Constitution. This branch consists of the President and Vice-President. The Executive Branchs powers are as follows: can veto laws, can refuse to spend money assigned for specific purposes, instigates war, has outfitted control over the military, make rulings and declarations circulates legal policies and executive orders, usually appoints judges, and can allow pardons of convicted criminals. The President checks Congress with his power to veto bills. However Congress can take precedence over a veto with a two-thirds majority vote of the each party of the House of Representatives. When the democratic and republican houses can not come to an

agreement on a date for postponement of the bill, the President decides. The president can call either one or both houses into emergency session, and he appoints judges with the advice and approval of the Senate. The Vice-President id the Senates president. The president is also the civilian Commander in Chief of the military. Although, the power to raise, financially support and look after the armed forces, and to set the laws and regulations by which they operate, lies in the hands of Congress. Also, the President might be able to instigate a war, but Congress ultimately has the power to declare war. The Judicial Branch and its powers are in Article III of the Constitution. This branch consists of the federal courts and the Supreme Court. The Judicial Branch determines which laws apply to which case, whether a law is unconstitutional, and what he nature of a prisoner is. This branch has the power to force a witness to testify, force evidence to be produced, cancel out laws that are at odds with more important laws or the Constitution, and has exclusive power to translate the law and apply it to individual disputes. The main reason that checks and balances are so important and crucial in today's society is because we live in a world where someone else is going to always be to blame. If something goes wrong, blame it on the president. This is something that is done all too often and it's not only the president that makes decisions it is the whole part together. The process of checks and balances is designed to keep each system "in check" and make sure that they are not abusing their power. No one person is to blame; it is a process in which more than one is involved. The process of checks and balances guarantees that one person will not be allowed to have absolute power and that is why checks and balances is so important.