Checks and Balances

Let's travel back in time for a moment. Back to the late 1700s, when the founding fathers were trying to reach a compromise on how the federal government should work. They wanted to avoid the monarchies that called all the shots in Europe at the time. They wanted a Republic responsive to people's needs. But, the government had to be strong enough to get things done. The challenge was to balance power and make sure different parts of the government checked the power of the others. Get it...checks and balances.

In practice, this process involved finding a sweet spot between states’ rights and a strong federal government, while on the federal level, not giving too much power to any one branch: the President (executive), Congress (legislative) or the Supreme Court (judicial). So a system of checks and balances was implemented and it still works (most of the time) today.

Examples: a president vetoing legislation passed by Congress; Congress overriding the veto by a two thirds majority in both the House and the Senate; and the Supreme Court striking down any legislation it believes is unconstitutional.

As just one specific example, in the 1930s, Congress passed a law forming the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to create jobs for Americans who were out of work during the Depression. It was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, but then a new Congress was elected who voted to close down the CCC. President Roosevelt vetoed that legislation but it was overridden by Congress. Then the Supreme Court decided it was unconstitutional anyway, so that was the end of that program.