let's say you never took social studies back in high school or you did
but you forgot everything from it can you say what the branches of the federal
government are and what they do
can you say your own name do you know where you are
does the back of your head hurt if so
you may have amnesia and will need a different video or a trip to the
emergency room
the three branches in the order will talk about them
are the legislative branch or congress the executive branch
or the president and the federal agencies and the judicial branch
or the federal courts first
congress the legislative branch congress is the branch that writes and passes laws
it also coins money passes budgets
decides taxes and fees for revenue and regulates interstate or international
commerce
basically congress is where the money is regulating commerce
is one of the most important powers because when the Constitution was
written
most everything was either made or grew by the person using it
or bought from close by now
pretty much everything comes to us from far away
and through many people and corporations the Supreme Court has also widened the
definition of Interstate
to include activities that happen entirely in one state
if the total of those activities affects
interstate commerce in some way that has come to mean
just about everything which gives congress a lot of power
also in the money department is spending taxes come in
and spending goes out the supreme court has ruled
congress can pretty much spend money on anything it wants to
as long as it doesn't violate anyone's rights
including equal treatment and due process in doing so
this might even mean spending money to get the states to do something Congress
doesn't have the power to order them to do
so the spending power is another one of the broadest powers Congress has
Congress has the power to create armed forces and to declare war
though there is an ongoing debate between Congress and the President
on when a declaration of war is actually needed to start fighting
Presidents have argued that they don't need to have a declaration of war
when the U.S. is attacked or when the fighting is less than a full out war
the last war that was declared first was World War II
Congress has passed a law requiring the President to get approval for any armed
conflict less than a war
after a certain amount of time but Presidents claim
they don't necessarily need to do that which has been the source of arguing
when we fought in Somalia and Bosnia in the nineties
or Libya recently Congress has some slightly less exciting powers too
they can create a postal service but not manage it
they can manage patents trademarks and copyrights
they can create federal courts but don't manage them
either they have the power to investigate the federal agencies
they can set standard weights and measures the post-Civil War amendments
to the Constitution
also give Congress certain powers to enforce the protection and equal
treatment of racial minorities
in addition to all the listed powers of Congress
it also has the power to create any laws necessary to enforce its listed powers
that could be a lot of things so it has the potential to become another big
source of power
now
on to the president and the executive branch the president executes the laws
this means managing the federal agencies
there are quite a few all federal agencies get their powers from the laws
passed by Congress
and get their funding from the budgets passed by Congress
but the president manages them this includes picking over
6,000 top-level positions
that includes all the federal judges
the Senate has to approve the highest level positions in the agencies
as well as the judges even though it seems like Congress
would have all the power
since it writes the laws the President is the one who approves rules and
regulations for the agencies
usually the law only gives an outline of what the agency
needs to do
and the regulations fill that in Congress can set rules
about how agencies may spend money though has an extra way to have control
the President is the commander in chief of the armed forces
so even if Congress decides that we're at war the President
actually runs the war
the President can grant pardons for federal crimes
some pardon requests stand a better chance than others
the president manages foreign relations though the Senate has to agree to a
treaty by a two-thirds vote
the technical term for that is ratification
now even though Congress passes laws
the President can veto or the president can hold the bill for up to 10 days
and if Congress's session ends in that time the bill goes away
which is called a pocket veto the term pocket veto
comes from the first president to use it James Madison
who had very deep pockets where he stored trail mix
Congress can override a veto and pass the law anyway
but that takes a two-thirds majority so it doesn't happen very often
the President can also sign a law but say that he'll
only interpret it in certain ways
which is called a signing statement it's another way to influence laws without
actually being able to make them
finally we have the judicial branch
at the top of which is the Supreme Court
this is the branch that interprets the Constitution and deals with court cases
about federal laws
including deciding what is a law means
if one of the other two branches does something unconstitutional
you can usually be blocked in court
the courts also decide if a federal law in an area where the
federal and state governments both have powers
overrules those state laws which is called preemption
one example of an overlap is environmental regulation
and of course the courts deal with federal law
in federal crimes in cases just like any other court
even though the Supreme Court is at the top most cases get resolved
way before them
the courts are influenced by both of the other branches because the President
appoints judges and they have to be approved by the Senate
but then once the judges are in they're in for life
so they end up with a lot of independence
those are the basics of what the three branches do and what their powers are
and just in time for you to get that head looked at
and there you have it