Legislative, Judicial, Executive: Separation of Powers

Separation of Powers

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Separation of powers is a political doctrine originating in the writings of Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws where he urged for a constitutional government with three separate branches of government. Each of the three branches would have defined abilities to check the powers of the other branches. This idea was called separation of powers. This philosophy heavily influenced the writing of the United States Constitution, according to which the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power. This United States form of separation of powers is associated with a system of checks and balances.

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Legislative Branch

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Congress has the sole power to legislate for the United States. Under the nondelegation doctrine, Congress may not delegate its lawmaking responsibilities to any other agency.

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*Writes and enacts laws
*Enacts taxes, authorizes borrowing, and sets the budget
*Has sole power to declare war
*May start investigations, especially against the executive branch
*The Senate considers presidential appointments of judges and executive department heads
*The Senate ratifies treaties
*The House of Representatives may impeach, and the Senate may remove, executive and judicial officers
*Sets up federal courts except the Supreme Court, and sets the number of justices on the Supreme Court
*May override presidential vetoes

Executive Branch

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Executive power is vested, with exceptions and qualifications,[1] in the President. By law (Section 2.) the president becomes the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, Militia of several states when called into service, has power to make treaties and appointments to office "with the Advice and Consent of the Senate," receive Ambassadors and Public Ministers, and "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" (Section 3.) By using these words, the Constitution does not require the president to personally enforce the law; rather, officers subordinate to the president may perform such duties. The Constitution empowers the president to ensure the faithful execution of the laws made by Congress and approved by the President.

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*May veto laws
*Wages war at the direction of Congress (Congress makes the rules for the military)
*Makes decrees or declarations (for example, declaring a state of emergency) and promulgates lawful regulations and executive orders
*Influences other branches of its agenda with the State of the Union address.
*Appoints judges and executive department heads
*Has power to grant pardons to convicted persons, except in cases of impeachment

Judicial Branch

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Judicial power—the power to decide cases and controversies—is vested in the Supreme Court and inferior courts established by Congress. The judges must be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, hold office during good behavior and receive compensations that may not be diminished during their continuance in office. If a court's judges do not have such attributes, the court may not exercise the judicial power of the United States. Courts exercising the judicial power are called "constitutional courts

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*Determines which laws Congress intended to apply to any given case
*Determines whether a law is unconstitutional. *However, this is not a power given in the constitution. It was 'created' in Marbury v Madison (1803)
*Determines how Congress meant the law to apply to disputes
*Determines how a law acts to determine the disposition of prisoners
*Determines how a law acts to compel testimony and the production of evidence
*Determines how laws should be interpreted to assure uniform policies in a top-down fashion via the appeals process, but gives discretion in individual cases to low-level judges. (The amount of discretion depends upon the standard of review, determined by the type of case in question.)
*Polices its own members


In case some of you liberals are unclear of what each branch of government does, or quite possibly does not even know we have 3 branches of government.

The President does not have unlimited power, unless you want a dictator. You choose. Dictatorship or Democratic Republic.