Government: Constitutional Powers and Limits

The general public gives an problem with the government surveillance as a media for invading others privacy. With the government monitoring, collecting, and retaining people's personal data, one side would claim that it is an infringement of their freedom to the rights to privacy. While the National security associations justifies the reason for monitoring would be to maintain order. Their ways to maintain order would be to monitor criminal and terrorist activity and to detect incoming threats, terrorists, or problems that would harm their country. This issue shows that freedom cannot exist without order. Although the general public wants their freedom of their privacy, they can not achieve their most of their desires because it puts their lives at risk without protection. Order is necessary in order to have freedom. It is impossible to attain entire freedom for a cause, however, it is possible to attain freedom to a certain

Some may think that the Executive branch is the utmost powerful . I understand why you might say that , by reason of it involves the president, but everything that the president wants to be passed it has to go through congress first . For an example, “your “ president trump tried to pass multiple bills such as not allowing Transgenders to join the military and getting rid of Obama care . Congress didn’t pass these laws so consequently they failed due to most of the bills that trump passes are unconstitutional . We should appreciate that congress is in control in view of if trump was in charge, we would be in a great amount of trouble . Now I might know why you would believe the judicial branch is the powerful because it is the supreme court . The supreme court is the highest judicial court in the country . Which consists of nine justices and have the power of all the courts in the nations .Here is my argument for that , The supreme court is only in charge of the lower courts . Even the supreme court deals with laws and bills, but it still has to go through congress

The supreme court is the highest court in the nation, which makes the judicial branch have one of the most important courts in its branch. Its decisions set precedents that all other courts has to follow, and no lower court can ever supersede a supreme court decision. Not even the congress or the president can change,reject,or ignore a supreme court decision, making the judicial branch the most important because even the highest people has to go through this branch. There are 3 branches of government, but the judicial branch happens to hold the most power among the three. This is my second reason why I believe the judicial branch should be considered the most powerful

What are ways the constitution limits the power of the federal government? There are three different ways the constitution limits power. The three different ways are the system of checks and balances, the bill of rights, and federalism. Along with ways the constitution limits power, there are the three branches of government as well. The first branch is the legislative branch, the second is the executive branch, and the third and final branch is the judicial branch. Each branch in the government has a lot of power and they use several ways to distribute their power evenly among other branches.

Since the founding of the United States of America, freedom has been the basis of the governmental and ruling systems in place. Individual freedoms are protected in both the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution, and Schwartz (2009) explains that ‘public liberty ultimately enhances collective rationality—it is a path to heightening our wisdom by increasing access to pertinent information and improving decision making’ (p. 409). However, there have been many times in history when the true freedom of citizens is called into question. There has always been controversy about how much power the government should have, who is keeping the government in check, and if citizens are properly informed about what their elected governed are doing. The passing of the Patriot Act in 2001 was no exception to this controversy. The

In the Federalist 51 of the Federalist Papers James Madison writes “In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates...the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided.” It is necessary for the legislative branch to have the most power because they reflect the will of the people since we directly elect members of Congress and the laws the legislative branch creates inevitably affects the people. The members of the legislative branch are the closest link to the people; they represent specific interest groups and must be responsive to those interest groups or risk losing re-election. The framers of the constitution such as James Madison believed that since Congress is closest to the people they would have a democratic legitimacy that neither the Executive or Judicial branches would possess.

The NSA, or National Security Agency, is an American government intelligence agency responsible for collecting data on other countries and sometimes on American citizens in order to protect the country from outside risks. They can collect anything from the people’s phone data to their browser history and use it against them in the court of law. Since the catastrophes of September 11 attacks, the NSA’s surveillance capabilities have grown with the benefit of George W. Bush and the Executive Branch (Haugen 153). This decision has left a country divided for fifteen years, with people who agree that the NSA should be strengthened and others who think their powers should be limited or terminated. Although strengthening NSA surveillance may help the

When the founding fathers wrote the Constitution, they wrote the document with a set of strict ideals in mind to protect the American people from the government expanding its power. The Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution in ways that have expanded the powers of Congress, making them most responsible for the growth of federal power. In the Constitution, the Commerce clause was created to regulate interstate commerce, but after the Supreme Court ruled on cases the interpretation changed and the federal government can now regulate commercial activities including minimum wage and labor. The Court broadened the “Necessary and Proper” clause when it ruled that Congress can establish a federal bank. Finally, the Court reinterpreted the meaning of the First Amendment so as to eliminate voluntary prayer in public or in schools. These are not the only illustrations of the Supreme Court expanding federal power, but by examining these three examples, expansion of federal power is shown.

The three branches of government are supposed to balance each other out equally so none of them has more power than the other. Congress can pass laws, the president can veto, Congress can override a veto, and the Supreme Court can decide whether or not a law is unconstitutional through judicial review. While it all seems to be an equal balance, there has been debate on whether or not the Supreme Court actually has more power over the other branches. Judicial review gives the court the power to override both the president and Congress based on the fact that the court decides if a law is unconstitutional or not. The president can veto Congress, but Congress can counter that by overriding his veto. Once the Supreme court decides whether or not

Madison wrote that, as far as political powers and the branches of government were concerned, “ambition must be made to counteract ambition” (Principles and Practice of American Politics, Federalist 51, p. 72). Ambition certainly counteracts ambition within the Senate itself, as is demonstrated by polarization and compromise, but ambition also acts as a balancing force between the Congress and the Supreme Court. When the president nominates potential justices, it is the job of Congress to carry out hearings and approve (or disapprove) the candidate (The Logic of American Politics, p. 390). Congress also has the power to determine the number of justices on the Supreme Court, and it is their job to add spaces on the bench as they see fit (The Logic of American Politics, p. 371). One of the more important functions of the Supreme Court is judicial review, which gives the Supreme Court the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. Although this power is never explicitly stated in the Constitution, it is implied in Article III, and is mentioned in Federalist 78 (The Logic of American Politics, p. 361). Madison noted, “it is not possible to give each department an equal power of self defense. In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates” (Principles and Practice of American Politics, Federalist 51, p. 73). The Judicial Branch was designated as the “weakest” branch from its beginning, and was created to concern itself with “neither force nor will, but merely judgment.” Judicial review serves as protection for the American people from the abuses of Congressional power (Principles and Practice of American Politics, Federalist 78, p. 416-417). Just as Congress and the Supreme Court balance each other through structure and representation, they each also balance the actions and decisions of the

The President is given the power to veto or restrain Congress and the authority to appoint members of the Supreme Court with the advice and consent of the Senate. In this system the role of the Supreme Court has not yet been defined. Therefore it fell to a strong Chief Justice like Marshall to complete the checks and balances. Making the principle of judicial review. No other was unconstitutional until the Dred Scott case back in 1857. The Supreme Court invalidated the Federal and the state laws to the Constitution was never seriously challenged. Woodrow Wilson said “That the constitution of the United States was not made to fit like a strait jacket it is elasticity lies it is chief

A paradox has always exists between the issue of civil liberties and national security. Democracy creates civil liberties that allow the freedom of association, expression, as well as movement, but there are some people use such liberal democracy to plan and execute violence, to destabilize State structures. It illustrates the delicate balance existing between reducing civil liberties to enhance security in a state. States have detained suspects for years and have also conducted extensive privacy incursions as strategies to combat terror, however it risks violation of civil liberties. This essay discusses the extent to which a state should be allowed to restrict civil liberties for the enhancement of national security and not abandon democratic values. It looks at aspects of the legal response to terrorism in the United States after the 9/11 attack.

The US Supreme Court has a number of powers. These include the power to declare acts of Congress, the executive or state legislatures unconstitutional through the power of judicial review. The supreme court justices are also given the power to interpret the constitution when making decisions, again, through their power of judicial review. It is arguable that it is essential for the supreme court to have such powers in order to allow the American democracy to flourish. However, there is much evidence to suggest that the supreme court holds too much power for an unelected body, thus hindering democracy.

“The consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival” (Orwell). The world today is full of many dangers domestic and abroad. It has become a routine in the news to report on the daily mass shooting or update with the war on terror. We live in a world where being worried is justified; however, we should not give up our constitutional rights in the face of fear. The NSA’s dragnet surveillance programs, such as PRISM, are both ineffective and are surpassed by less questionable national security programs. The FISA court's’ approval of NSA actions are not only illegal, but exist as an embarrassing formality. Surveillance is a necessary

In conclusion the judicial branch has the most power in the constitution. I believe this because the judicial branch settles disagreements Those are my three reasons that the judicial branch has the most power because the judicial branch makes the