Essay one: The doctrine of federalism and how it is implemented in American political system
Federalism is a concept of government which allows for sovereignty to be divided between two political units. The concept of federalism adopted in the United States divides not only sovereignty, but also political power between the federal and state governments. This means that depending on the subject matter, each government has a measure of independence from each other despite sharing territorial authority. Where the two levels have concurrent powers, the local and federal governments have to negotiate in order to come up with policies and solutions that are in the interest of the people. It is cardinal to note that a country must have at least two autonomous levels of government for it to qualify as a federal government. Founders of the United States and drafters of the constitution desired a strong federal government, which would provide the national face of the United States. This government would encompass strong national security organs, establish policies for the health of the nation, drive the national economy with efficiency and establish foreign relations. On the other hand, they gave states powers to protect themselves from being oppressed by the national government. States have powers to amend the constitution and elect an electoral college that would determine the president of the United States. In addition, the constitution stipulates that all residual powers not specifically given to the federal government vests in the people through their local leaders. In order to maintain law and order, the full faith and credit clause in the constitution directs all states to respect and uphold laws enacted by other states. This prevents a situation where criminals would commit crimes in one jurisdiction and then escape to another.
Before the 1930s, these two levels of governments operated under a dual federalist form of government. They operated as two distinct levels of government given different duties and obligations under the constitution. However, this has changed to cooperative federalism where though territorial boundaries are still respected; the overriding objective is service delivery to the people rather than territorial control. While state governments continue to amass more powers and more responsibilities since the promulgation of the constitution, the federal government still reigns supreme because of the nature of American politics. The reasons for the national government retaining its supremacy include the reliance of the states on the national government in times of war, the rise of coercive federalism and the rights revolution together with Great Society programs.
Essay two: Reasons why it is difficult to get a piece of legislation through Congress
Congress is the chief legislative arm of the United States government. It is mandated with the responsibility of enacting, amending and repealing laws that affects the entire United States territory. Bills that are enacted to laws establish the fiscal policy of the United States through taxation and public expenditure, to define crimes and punishments and to shape the nature of American political landscape. It is a tedious, long, frustrating and complex process full of political intrigues. It is extremely difficult to pass a piece of legislation through Congress. There are many stages that law makers can kill the bill rather than facilitate its enactment. While the procedure is one barrier, the indiscipline of members of Congress to respect party positions is another barrier. Unlike the British legislature where members of a particular party are loyal to its position and stand on issues, members of Congress are totally independent and can take any position different from that of their party including supporting another party. In other jurisdictions, whips in parliament exert a lot of pressure on members to follow party lines. They are empowered by their constitutions to meter out sanctions on members who they deem indiscipline. This instills a sense of collective responsibility to members of a particular divide and they fight as a group to ensure that their policies are implemented or bill enacted.
The contrast is true in the United States Congress. Members introducing bills have an individual responsibility to gather support from all Congressmen to enact the bills. Even the executive has an uphill task of convincing Congress to support their bills. Even if the president’s party controls both houses, his agenda will be vigorously debated and has an equal chance of being killed just like any other bill. This was demonstrated during early years of the Clinton presidency. He had a tough time having his way through Congress despite democrats having control of both houses. The Obama administration is also having a hard time dealing with Congress. The republican-controlled House of Representatives almost brought the United States government to a complete shutdown when they refused to approve the president’s health care plans. This illustrates how hard it is to pass a bill in Congress without having to fundamentally alter its contents. Additionally, the numerous stages the bill has to go through make it vulnerable to amendments by parties with vested interests.
Essay three: The power Congress has over the executive branch and how effectively Congress is able to check the power of the president
The constitution recognizes Congress as the chief legislative arm of the government. It can use this power to limit the discretion powers of the executive arm of government. More fundamentally, the constitution grants Congress to power to determine funding on warfare activities initiated by the executive. Appointments made by the president have to be approved by Congress before appointees can officially take their positions. Congress has powers to reject the president’s nominees if they are unfit to serve, incompetent or incapable of rendering the services which they have been appointed to delivery. If the president commits a gross violation of the constitution, the Congress has the power to impeach him. The Senate, in particular, has significant powers over the executive. It is mandated to confirm the president’s nominees to the cabinet, the judiciary and other high ranking public officials. Furthermore, the Senate has to advice and consent to all treaties negotiated or ratified by the executive branch of the government. Section 8 of the constitution gives Congress power to declare war on other nations, borrow money, address issues of the national defence including the structure of the military and establish laws that govern the entire United States including the executive.
Congress has been successful in checking the powers of the executive arm of the government. It has succeeded in preventing fraud and waste of public resources, promoting the rule of the law, protecting fundamental rights and liberties, evaluating executive performance and facilitating civil education. In addition, Congress has established numerous committees of hearing and inquiry into the affairs of the executive in order to determine if the executive acted according to the law and in the interest of the people. The two arms of government have also cooperated with each other using both formal and informal consultation and reports to the president on matters affecting the nation. Using these powers, Congress has been instrumental in forcing out officials in government who are lethargic and ameliorate government policies. For example, in 1973 Congress exposed the executive on the Watergate scandal. The inquiry was done by a committee of the Senate. As a result, a number of officials were fired and multiples of agencies reorganized in order to fight corruption. In 1998, a committee of the Senate initiated legislation that led to fundamental changes in IRS leading to the establishment of an independent oversight board. The reforms also led to further protection of taxpayers.
Essay four: The nature and sources of the regulatory power enjoyed by the executive branch agencies and why agencies have large amounts of regulatory power
While Congress is the chief legislative arm of the government, it cannot be expected to pass all laws and regulations governing the country. Therefore, Congress specializes in enacting parent legislations, which provide the structure and direction for further regulation. That’s providing the skeleton of the law. On the other hand, executive agencies which are tasked with the responsibilities of implementing government policies draft delegated legislations, which give them regulatory powers to govern and control these policies. The source of these regulatory powers is usually the parent act enacted by Congress while establishing the particular agency. The parent act would, in most occasions, contain provisions that authorize the agency to make regulations to govern its interactions with citizens. However, the nature of this regulatory power must comply with all provisions of the parent act and be constitutional. If the delegated legislation contravenes either the parent act or the constitution it will be struck out or be declared null and void by a court of law.
Additionally, the constitution recognizes the place of administrative agencies in the governance of a country. They are empowered to manage crises, oversee complex matters beyond the scope and expertise of the legislature and the executive, and to redress ailing social conundrums. The “necessary and power” clause in Article I of the constitution infers that the drafters of the constitution expected, and indeed encouraged, the legislative arm of the government to leave room for regulatory power in the hands of strong and independent administrative agencies under the executive. The cardinal reason is that these agencies are better equipped with the requisite capacity, knowledge, expertise, skills and competency to determine the necessary regulations for the affected industry. Congress is only supposed to ensure that this regulatory power is used in tandem with the rule of law and within the tenets of a democratic society. If Congress was to be engaged in such activities it would be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the laws it would be required to pass. The legislative process is also long and tedious making it difficult for agencies to respond to emergency situations. Therefore, in their wisdom, the drafters of the constitution saw it fit to encourage Congress to delegate regulatory power through delegated legislation to specialized agencies not only for convenience purposes, but also for better service delivery to the people.
Essay five: The power Congress has over the judicial branch and how this power has been used
Congress is composed of the representatives of the people. They have an inherent mandate to oversee the activities of the other arm of the government. Oversight over the executive arm of government has been succinctly canvased; however, it is cardinal to note that Congress also has a critical role to oversee the activities of the judiciary arm of the government. Congress oversight authority is exercised over the administration of federal courts, federal judges and the Supreme Court Justices. Though this power is broad in nature and scope, it is limited to particular subjects. The oversight must be in tandem with the rule of law, separation of powers doctrine and be exercise legitimately. For example, Congress has powers to oversee and regulate jurisdiction, structure and administration of federal courts.
However, this power is extremely restricted with regards to acts of individual judges and justices in their judicial capacity. More blatantly, Congress has limited power in terms of disciplining or removing a judge or justice because of orders or rulings made during his tenure at the bench. Furthermore, the constitution provides judges with ‘good behavior’ tenures which is tantamount to lifetime tenures. Nevertheless, Congress has used its powers over the judiciary to affect and influence cases involving many issues. Some of these include gay marriages, the right to die, abortion cases, freedom of religion and prisoners’ rights. When Congress uses its powers in an attempt to affect decided or ongoing cases, courts are usually quick to raise constitutional issues. It is, therefore, cardinal that the exercise of this power should be done within the confine of the constitution and with respect to the doctrine of separation of powers. This doctrine envisions a situation in which the government has three separate arms of the government, which operate independently though they are interdependent to facilitate efficient delivery of governmental services to the public. The constitution provides Congress with powers to oversee the judiciary. It also addresses the extent and ability of Congress to limit its interference to particular sections of the judiciary and not the role of the judiciary in delivery justice and upholding the rule of law.
Works Cited
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Goodin, Robert E and Charles Tilly. The Oxford Handbook of Contextual Political Analysis. London: Oxford Handbooks Online, 2008.
Hooghe, L and G Marks. "Unraveling the Central State, but How? Types of Multi-Level Governance." The American Political Science Review, (2003): 97 (2), pp. 233-243..
Siegel, L J and J L Worrall. Essentials of criminal justice (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2013.
Yaffee, Steven and David Chadwick. "Political Analysis for Collaborative Managers." School of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Michigan (2006): 1-5.
