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Basic Constitutional Concepts
well as functions, the authors of the Constitution sought to prevent the
legislative branch from lording over a subordinate executive and a subordinate judiciary.
(3) The Framers provided each department with constitutional
means for resisting attempts at domination by the other departments.
The President’s ‘‘qualified veto’’ over enactments of the Congress was a
protection for the executive branch. Life tenure for judges was a protection for the judicial branch. As an additional device for strengthening
the executive and judiciary against the legislature, the Framers arranged that members of the House and Senate would be chosen by different means, and in part at different times. The Congress, for its share,
was given the constitutional power of impeaching the executive or
members of the judiciary—a grim power inherited from the British
Constitution.
(4) It may thus be seen that an elaborate system of checks and balances
was woven into the Constitution. These checks and balances were intended to prevent any person or organ of government from interfering
with constitutional freedoms or with the lawful functioning of another
organ of government. They also help to maintain the separation of powers by arming each branch with a defensive power to resist encroachments from another branch.
These built-in checks upon the power of any person or office in the
Federal government are still functioning two centuries after their invention.
To obtain a clearer notion of these several constitutional means for
separating powers and providing checks and balances in the Constitution, study the following list of such provisions in the original seven Articles of the Constitution:
Checks upon the Congress
The Vice President (executive branch) presides over the Senate and can
cast a tie-breaking vote (Article I, Section 3).
The President is empowered to call special sessions of the Congress,
and to adjourn both houses if they cannot agree upon a time for adjournment (Article II, Section 3).