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Contents
• Separation of Powers– Article 1 The Legislative Branch– Article 2 The Executive Branch– Article 3 The Judicial Branch
• Federalism • Conclusion
What is Congress?
Article 1 Section 1: “All legislative powers
herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Repre-sentatives.”
What is Congress?
SENATE• Article 1 Section
3 : Represent the states : Each state gets 2 Senators : Chosen by state legislatures
House of Representa-
tives• Article 1 Section 2 : Represents the people : Elected directly by voters : Number of repre-sentatives determined by state’s population
Making of Law
Article 1 Section 7: “Every bill which shall have passed
the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law…”
* cf. Filibuster : An effort on the part of legis-lators to delay or block action on a bill by speaking for hours on end. A filibuster can be ended by three-fifths majority vote.
Making of Law
What kinds of bills can Congress pass?
: Congress has power to legislate on is-sues that couldn't be left to the states. Article 1 Section 8
: “The Congress shall have power...To regulate Commerce with for-eign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes...”
Making of Law
Article 1 Section 10: “No state shall enter into any
treaty, alliance, or confederation…”
The United States must speak with one voice in foreign affairs, the voice of the federal government
Making of Law
Article 1 Section 7: “Every bill which shall have
passed the House of Representa-tives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it…”
Making of Law
Article 1 Section 7: “If after such reconsideration two
thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law.”
Separation of Powers
• To protect individual liberty, sovereignty of state… check and balance
• Congress : Must enact the lawExecutive : Must enforce the lawJudicial : Must agree that the law is Constitutional
Separation of Powers
Has ‘Separation of powers’ worked out well?
• 17th Amendment– “The Senate of the United States shall
be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof…”
• Party system– a system of government where elected
officials belong to, and commonly vote with, a like-minded political bloc.
– Institutional loyalty vs. party loyalty– Too much/ too little checking and balanc-
ing
Presidential Roles
• Enforce the Law• Hire/ fire federal officers
higher level position • Appoint federal judges• Conduct foreign affairs
treaties• Commander in Chief of the armed
forces conduct war (x declare war)
With agree-ment of the Con-gress
Who’s got the Power?
• Congress : separation of its own power–Divided into two houses
(100 senators, hundreds of repre-sentatives)– Its own rule (ex. filibuster)
• Executive branch : concentrated in one person
many events of presidents expanding their presidential power
Expansion of Presidential Power
Abraham Lincoln• The blockade of
Confederation Ports• Suspension of writ of
habeas corpus• Emancipation of Slaves
(The Emancipation Proclamation)
Expansion of Presidential Power
Franklin Roosevelt • The Great Depression
New Deal policy• World World II
Harry Truman • Atomic bomb in
Japan• Sent troops to Korea
Steel Mills Seisure
Expansion of Presidential Power
• “If steel production stops, we'll have to stop making the shells and bombs that are going directly to our soldiers at the front in Korea.”
• The Youngstown case (Truman v. Steel industry)
framework to decide if a presi-dent has gone too far–Congress Approves/ Says nothing/
Declines–BUT…
: the problem of ‘party system’: disagreement between President and Congress
Supreme Court
• Cases that couldn’t be left to state courts
• Cases about federal law : Need ONE in-terpretation
• Cases that states courts cannot be im-partial about
• Cannot reach out for cases Passive–Weaker than Congress or the President
• Can strike down the law– Stronger than Congress or the President
Supreme Court
• “Will People Obey ?” : real test of the court's authority
• Earlier – not really respected : dispute between Cherokees and Georgia … the Trail of Tears
Supreme Court
• 1953, Brown v Board of Education• Court ordered states to desegregate
their public schools→enormous resistance →President’s intervention
Importance of Supreme Court
• Courts can actually make some ‘bad’ decisions
• But we obey with belief that they are made without outside influence.
• Independent Judiciary - Article 3: “The judges, both of the supreme
and inferior courts, shall hold their of-fices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their ser-vices, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.”
Importance of Supreme Court
• Independent Ju-diciary … from Party system
• Gives uniformity in the interpreta-tion of federal law and the Constitution
• A third power center for the separation of powers
• Protecting rights
The Federalism Overview of Federalismfederalism in the constitutional basis
the states and federalism in practice
evolution of the federal government
Pro, cons and characteristic
necessity• a complex and ever-changing
network of relations between national, state, and local governments
• THE separation of the power between federal government and the states.
Federal governmentstates
a se-ries of coloni
es
execu-tion of
the Revo-lution
con-fed-era-tion
Confederation in USBackground
— The Articles of Confederation
original binding document supreme law
Confederation in US
①Regulation of continental congress and states
② Drawbacks —no power over trade/ tax/ enforce laws….
③calls of some federalist—Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay
④The concerns of anti-federalistUnited StatesCONSTITUTION
Federalism in US
1. Federal government powers • Article VI of the Constitution “supreme Law of the
Land” the supremacy clause. • the national government has
authority over the state governments.• four major types of power: expressed, implied, inherent, and
prohibited.
Federalism in US
Type Key Clause
Explanation Examples
Enumerated (Expressed)
Article I, Section 8
Powers explicitly granted to Congress
Declare war, coin money, levy taxes, regulate interstate commerce
Implied Necessary and proper (Article I, Section 8)
Powers that Congress has assumed in order to better do its job
Regulate telecommunications, build interstate highwaysMcCulloch v. Maryland
Inherent
Preamble
Powers inherent to a sovereign nation
Defend itself from foreign and domestic enemies
Prohibited
Article I, Section 9
Powers prohibited to the national government
Suspend the writ of habeas corpus, tax exports
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT’S POW-ERS
Federalism in US
2. State power a)overview —choose delegates to the Electoral
College —write their own constitutions and
pass their own laws three branches — current situationb) Reserved Powers
Federalism in US• b) Reserved Powers
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Tenth Amendment in the Bill of Rights)
reservation clause — police powers
• c ) Concurrent Powers
1• The power to levy
taxes2
• The power to bor-row money
3
• The power to charter corpora-tions
Federalism in US
d )The Full Faith and Credit Clause — state governments must respect the laws and
decisions of other state governments(Art. 4, § 1). — A state’s decision is binding on other statese) Local Governments—Constitution does not mention local governments at
all.—a multitude of types of local government.
approximately 84,000 local governments —granted some degree of autonomy to local
governments. home rule: a promise by the state government to
refrain from interfering in local issues.
Federalism in practice
• Federal government $ States
• Practice: certain mandates/ preemption
Federal Aid to the States —fiscal federalism
grants-in-aid
grants-in-aid
Categorical grants
Project grants
Formula grants
Block grants
a fairly broad purpose
Evolution of Federalism• dual federalism "layer cake federalism" • 1790 to 1930
• Cooperative federalism• "marble cake federalism"• 1930 and 1960
• "picket fence federalism"• 1960 to 1980
Creative federalism
• “on your own federalism"• 1981—now
new feder-alism
Strengths and drawbacksAdvantages
① Fosters state loyalties: close ties to their home state
② Creates laboratories of democracy eg : California③ Leads to political stability: removing the national
government from some contentious issue areas④ Encourages pluralism : expand government on
national, state, and local levels, giving people more access to leaders and opportunities to get involved in their government.
⑤ Ensures the separation of powers and prevents tyranny
Strengths and drawbacks
•Critics argue that federalism falls short in two ways:
Prevents the creation of a national policy: The United States does not have a single policy on issues; instead, it has fifty-one policies, which often leads to confusion.
Leads to a lack of accountability: The overlap of the boundaries among national and state governments makes it tricky to assign blame for failed policies.
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