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Basic Constitutional Concepts
Congress has power to determine the number of judges and the size
of Federal courts (Article III, Section 1).
Congress has power to regulate the original jurisdiction of inferior
Federal courts and the appellate jurisdiction of all Federal courts (Article
III, Sections 1 and 22).
The President has power to appoint Federal judges (Article II, Section 2).
These checks upon the powers of all three major branches of the Federal government, if carried to extremes, might make it difficult to carry
on government at all. This the Framers understood. So they checked or
balanced the checks-and-balances system itself by adding to the Constitution provisions to protect each branch from interference with its operations by another branch, and to protect the members of each branch from
threats and reprisals. Here are the major protective provisions:
The Independence of Congress
Congress is authorized to assemble annually, and the President may not
dissolve a Congress (Article I, Section 4).
Both houses of Congress have the power to judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of their own members (Article I, Section 5).
Only the Congress can determine the rules for its proceedings, punish
its members for disorderly behavior, and expel its members (Article I,
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