Checks and Balances

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Checks and Balances

• Mr. Hall

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Each branch of government has some form of
control over or influence on the other two
Judicial Branch INTERPRETS LAWS
Legislative Branch MAKES LAWS
Executive Branch CARRIES OUT LAWS
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Checks and Balances

• Congress checks the President
• Makes laws
• Appropriates funding
• Coins money
• Can override a veto by 2/3 vote
• Impeach the President
• Senate approves treaties and Presidential
  appointments for judges
• Declares war
• Regulates immigration

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Checks and Balances

• Congress checks the Supreme Court
• Creates lower courts
• Impeach federal judges
• Senate approves appointment of judges

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Checks and Balances

• Supreme Court checks President
• Judges are appointed for life
• May declare executive actions unconstitutional

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Checks and Balances

• Supreme Court checks Congress
• May declare acts of Congress (laws)
  unconstitutional

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Checks and Balances

• President checks Congress
• May veto legislation (laws)
• Call special sessions of Congress
• Appeal to the people (through State of the Union
  Address) to influence legislation

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Checks and Balances

• Additional Presidential Powers
• Carries out Laws
• Makes treaties with other nations
• Writes the budget
• Can pardon a felon (excuse them)
• Can grant amnesty (same as pardon but for a
  group)
• Granted special war-time powers

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Checks and Balances Scenarios

• Identify which branch of government is checking
  which branch
• The President vetoes a bill passed by Congress
• Executive checks Legislative
• The Supreme Court rules a law passed by Congress
  is unconstitutional
• Judicial checks legislative

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Checks and Balances Scenarios

• Congress refuses to confirm the nomination of
  Bob Dorkmeister to the Supreme Court
• Legislative checks executive
• A bill to raise the legal driving age to 18 is
  vetoed
• Executive checks legislative
• U.S. diplomats write a treaty with the
  government of Iraq, but the U.S. never approves
  the treaty
• Legislative checks executive

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Checks and Balances Scenarios

• Justice Jones is impeached for abusing her power
  and accepting bribes
• Legislative checks judicial
• A law outlawing the Black Panthers as an
  organization is found unconstitutional because it
  violates first amendment rights
• Judicial checks legislative
• A conservative federal judge is appointed by a
  conservative President after a liberal justice
  dies
• Executive checks judicial

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Checks and Balances Scenarios

• The Supreme Courts interprets an executive order
  requiring border guards to stop workers from
  crossing the U.S./Mexican border, which violates
  a treaty with Mexico
• Judicial checks executive
• A spy is found guilty of treason, but the
  President grants a pardon from the death penalty
• Executive checks judicial

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Checks and Balances Scenarios

• The Department of Educations policy that all
  students must be taught in English only is ruled
  a violation of the Constitution
• Judicial checks executive
• A special session of Congress is called because
  Congress did not vote on a bill to fund relief
  efforts in Afghanistan
• Executive checks legislative

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Checks and Balances Scenarios

• The President promises to spend 5 billion more
  on education next year, but when the next year
  comes, the budget only gives 1 billion more to
  education
• Legislative checks executive
• Congress overrides a veto by getting a 2/3
  majority vote in the Senate and the House of
  Representatives in order to pass a bill into law
• Legislative checks executive