Congress And The Legislative Branch

The concept of “checks and balances” is a policy implemented by our founders, which separates the three branches of government into the legislative, judicial and executive branches. The main purpose of this system is to ensure that the powers of the national government are separated from one another. The Legislative branch, composed of Congress is broken up into two chambers, the Senate and The House of Representatives. These two chambers are meant to have each state represented in them, of which officials were elected directly by the people in an open election. Members of Congress either see themselves as having “delegated roles” or “trustee roles” in government. A Delegated role is seen as the representative solely voting on legislation …show more content…
“The business of Congress has expanded in both volume and complexity. No longer does Congress have the luxury to ruminate over the two or three issues of the day. In the Sixteenth Congress, when James Monroe was president, 480 bills were introduced. In the 111th Congress (2009-2011) over ten thousand measures were introduced.” (Turner pg. 317). This excerpt shows the growing importance of Congress. I think that in the present day Congress and the legislative branch is the most dominate in government, because there are so many ongoing changes that the government enacts, and policies that are being put into place, all created and passed by Congress. “Many people welcome the resurgence of congressional will as a necessary corrective to the presidential excesses that produced the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.” (Turner pg.337). The executive, more recognized by the Presidential figure, is the most public branch as it is viewed as the head of government. “The Constitution confers many powers on the Congress, but few substantive powers on the president. …show more content…
“Judicial review provides the court with the authority to set aside decisions made by elected representatives of the people, if the court concludes that a law violates The Constitution.” (Turner pg. 433). This was an outcome of the ruling from the 1803 case of Marbury v. Madison. A great amount of power lies within this branch, as they set the precedent for interpreting the Constitution of The United States. The court systems have the power to determine someone’s fate. This reminds me of the O.J Simpson case, everyone believed he was guilty of murdering his wife, however the court systems ruled that there was not sufficient enough evident to prove him guilty, so he was found innocent. Cases like this can cause uproar in society because everyone has an opinion on what the ruling should be, but the courts ruling is the only ruling that is recognized by the government. This shows the power the judicial branch has in society in regards to the court