How do our checks and balances work - Essay Example

The branches are considerably equal in power and their jurisdictions are mutually independent to eliminate probability of conflict of interest in implementing the checks and balances. The legislative arm of the government that consist of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes laws that govern operations of other government arms as well as citizens. Administrative law, as developed by the legislature, for example, determines organization of the executive in implementation of its governing roles.

The legislature also has the sole role of developing bills that regulate government policies, such as tax policies, and this checks on the executive arm’s authority to develop and implement rules policies that relates to taxation. The legislature therefore regulates tax rates that may be imposed by the executive on citizens and corporate parties. The legislature also ensures checks on the executive through its powers to impeach an officer in the executive arm of the government for improper conduct.

Such impeachment powers are also dispersed within the legislature to ensure balance and checks in their implementation. The House of Representative, for example, serves the role of impeaching officers in the executive arm of the government while the congress presides over impeachment cases. The same impeachment role applies over judicial officers and it ensures that the judiciary and the executive are run in accordance with the law and any other constitutionally established standard (Adamson and Morrison 31).

Our checks and balances also work through the roles and powers of the judiciary over constitutionality of laws and actions. The power to determine constitutionality of laws offers checks over the legislature by ensuring that enacted laws or amendments are consistent with the constitution. In its roles and powers, the judiciary that is headed by the Supreme Court can declare legislation unconstitutional through its mandate of interpreting the constitution and such a pronouncement renders the subject legislation null and void.

The role therefore checks on the legislatures powers to make laws and discourages legislations that are beyond the powers and scope of the houses under the doctrine of ultra vires. The judiciary also offers checks over the executive through its veto powers over decisions made by the executives and its officers. This is also based on its interpretative role that determines constitutionality of controversial decisions by the executive branch. This allows the courts to rescind a decision by a representative of the executive arm (Adamson and Morrison 32).

Similarly, our checks and balances work through the powers of the executive arm of the government over both the judiciary and the legislature. The power of the precedent, the head of the executive arm, to approve of all laws that the legislature passes offers check by ensuring that the laws are valid. The powers also ensure that the legislature’s interest is not passed into law by subjecting the passed laws to an independent party to the law making process. The Congress however has powers to reverse a decision by the executive not to approve legislation and this identifies the role of the three arms of government in ensuring valid laws.

The legislature makes the law, the executive approves the laws, and the judiciary interprets them for implementation, besides validating controversial ones, by the