Horizontal Separation Of Powers Law Constitutional Administrative Essay

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02 Nov 2017

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Nguyen Xuan Tien

Public Administration

Hanoi University

Separation of Powers in the United States

Separation of powers, or decentralization, has been a matter of great controversy in most developed countries. Everyone from the Head of State to the Congress, or National Assembly, or any political parties, wants to seize powers for themselves. And when this actually happens, some might abuse these powers as they please and violate the individual rights of citizens. It is this great peril that is the premise or foundation for the creation of the separation of powers.

This paper will examine the particularity in the case of the United States of America, where the separation of powers, as it was devised in the Constitution by their Founding Fathers, was designed to accomplish primarily one thing which is to prevent any single person or group from achieving absolute or unlimited authority within the nation. Accordingly, a structure of vertical separation, also known as the federalism, and horizontal separation was formed to ensure a system in which no national or state organs have the powers over one another.

For reasons of clarity and cohesion, this paper will be divided into three main parts with the first two sections respectively answering the two research questions: (1) What are the role of the three branches of the United States’ central government and how do they keep one another in check? And (2) how does the US maintain a balance of powers in a vertical structure among national and state governments? The final part will conclude the whole idea of the research paper.

Discussion

Horizontal Separation of Powers

As the United States of America balances its powers horizontally, the country is divided into three branches comprising the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial, each of which wielding a particular type of powers which is distinguished and exclusive to one another. Specifically, while the Legislative is responsible for determining and composing the laws itself, it is the Executive branch that has the ability to carry out these laws, and the Judicial the ability to judge or supervise these implementations (Meyer). The basic idea of this horizontal separation is to make sure that none of the three branches could seize too much power and become predominant. In other words, it creates a system of checks and balances in which each of these branches’ authority is restricted and checked by another branch.

Legislative powers. Essentially, the sole responsibility of the United States’ legislative branch is to construct a system of laws and orders in accordance with the Constitution in the form of drafting and passing bills. Additionally, the legislature has the authority over the financial management of the country such as allocating funds, or controlling taxes and expenditures (Meyer). But more importantly, it is the only branch that can issue a declaration of war and peace.

As the powers of the three branches are mutually checked and balanced, the Legislature can keep the other two branches’ authorities under control. The Congress, the legislative body of the highest rank of the country, can impose limits on the Executive with its power to override or disregard presidential vetoes (Constitutional Topic: Checks and Balances, 2010). It also falls upon the legislative branch to select the President and Vice President if there is no major electoral votes, as well as to impeach them if necessary. As regards the checks on the Judiciary, the Congress has the ability to devise amendments to the United States Constitution. An alteration of the size of the Supreme Court could also be by the Legislature. Furthermore, the Congress, as it is further divided into the two houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives, has a responsibility of checking itself. For instance, it depends on the approval of both houses for a drafted bill to pass and move on to the legislative process, or one house cannot adjourn for a period of more than three days without the agreement of the other house.

Executive powers. As clearly described in Article II of the US Constitution which is archived in the US National Constitution Center website, the executive powers of the country are bestowed upon the President of the United States and the Cabinet that is made up of the Vice President of the same term and the heads of 15 executive departments (Article II Executive Branch). Based on the Constitution, the responsibility to implement the laws authorized by the Congress falls exclusively upon the Executive.

Just as the legislative branch, the Executive may exercise its power to keep the Legislature and the Judiciary in check. Accordingly, the President of the United States, with his power to veto laws which have been passed and approved by both houses of the Congress, can actively intervene in the legislative process of the country, just as he can summon the Congress in case of emergency (Constitutional Topic: Checks and Balances, 2010). Furthermore, whereas the Congress may have the power to declare war, it is the President, the commander-in-chief of the army, who coordinates the national military services and leads to armed forces in times of conflict. The executive branch also balances judicial powers with the president’s power to assign judges in federal court while maintaining a balance of powers within itself as the President himself can be voted out of office by the Cabinet if there is proof that he is unworthy of his position, leaving the vice president in his place.

Judicial powers. Composed of the Supreme Court and inferior courts such as federal district and appellate courts, the judicial branch holds the power to interpret the law and apply it to the reality of cases in the name of the state (Constitutional Topic: Checks and Balances, 2010). Federal courts may impose checks on the legislative branch with their power to reverse a law which is considered unconstitutional. The judiciary can also check the decisions of the legislature and the executive through the power of judicial review which is a concept not written in the Constitution but rather inferred, or envisioned, throughout the history of the Constitution (Judicial Review). In addition, in times of a presidential impeachment trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will act as head of the Senate in lieu of the vice president.

Vertical Separation of Powers

This concept, which is more widely known as federalism, was considered to be of great importance to the constitutional system by the Founding Fathers, framers of the Constitution, who directly postulated in the United States Bill of Rights (Lowe). Federalism refers to a government system whose authorities are evenly divided among the central government, or the federal government, and regional governments, often called state governments. In the instance of the United States, both the federal and state governments are constitutionally given a great equal deal of sovereignty and power.

Foundation and structure of federalism. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, where the United States Constitution was devised, most systems of government were unitary governments, such as that of the Great Britain (Bishop). As a result, as a country which had just attained independence from the a unitary monarchy of the Great Britain, the United States would certainly take into consideration if they should form another central government with unlimited authority (Lowe). And the answer, as we all know it, is that they took a different approach and created a federation, a unique part of the US system of government.

As the United States Constitution specifically keep a balance of powers within the national government by creating a system of checks and balances among the three branches, the national government is unable to check itself. Therefore, in addition to the horizontal power separation, there had to be another system to balance the powers vertically, between the national government and the states in particular. Thus, these 50 states would act as a counterbalance, an equivalent force, to the federal government in terms of powers.

Powers of national and state governments. The states in federalism, each having its own constitution and sets of law, hold significant power in comparison with a local government of a centralized system. However, that does not mean the states are allowed to do whatever they want. The idea of federalism is that it gives both the national and state governments certain exclusive authority to frustrate one another while maintaining other similar powers, such as setting up courts, administering taxes, expanding facilities, or raising public welfare (Longley).

According to the United States Constitution, basically the sovereignty over external issues as well as matters of nationwide importance falls upon the national government. This leaves them with the powers to declare war, become involved in treaties with foreign countries, and control commerce between states and global trade (Longley). Moreover, the national government also possesses the ability to print money, set up and coordinate the armed and naval forces, in addition to enforcing the Constitution upon the states.

Contrary to the national government, the states are entrusted with the responsibility for internal and local issues, which includes establishing local, inferior governments, managing licenses, organizing elections, guaranteeing public well-being and security (Longley). Also, amendments to the United States Constitution made by the Congress have to be ratified or approved by the state governments.

Conclusion

All in all, division of powers in the United States, both horizontally and vertically, brings about a system of government where the administrative authorities are equally divided among mutually manageable units. As the powers are distributed horizontally among the three branches–the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary–of the government, it creates a system of checks and balances that prevents no particular branch from overpowering the other two by granting them specific authorities and sovereignty. As the government divides its power vertically, it maintains a sense of balance between the national and the state governments, allowing problems to be resolved right where they arise. After all, the sole purpose of power separation is to protect citizen’s liberty, and the only effective way to achieve that, according to the Founding Fathers, is to restrain government powers.



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