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What Are The Checks And Balances Of The Constitution

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A President can not overcome the various checks and balances of the Constitution without violating its design of limited power. By definition, if the executive branch can bypass the authority of the other branches then it enjoys unlimited power. If a President acts outside the powers designated to their office, then they act without the authority of the Constitution.
The Constitution outlines the roles of the three branches in the government of the United States. The powers to make laws, declare war, allocate government funds, and interpret federal laws are delegated to the legislative and judicial branches respectively. Even an active executive possesses neither the executive right nor the popular mandate to apply these powers. This obstruction of the executive branch, due to separation of powers, prevents presidential tyranny. Similarly, the checks and balances …show more content…

Having experienced both tyranny and indecisive vulnerability, the Founding Fathers created an executive to balance authority and restraint. In Federalist 46, James Madison states that "the accumulation of all power, legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands...may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." With this perspective, the Founding Fathers chose to establish a subordinate executive. Despite this, the role of the president is purposefully vague in the Constitution. As a counterweight, the legislative branch possesses clear supremacy over the executive, with the authority to impeach offending officials and rewrite the law. The founders implemented this system to allow executive decisiveness permitting legislative consent. As long as the president acts within the parameters set by Congress, executive treaties, appointments, and actions may be supported. If Congress does not approve of executive action, it possesses the irrevocable power to both modify the law and reject presidential

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