legislative power

Examples of legislative power in the following topics:

• Checking the Power of the Governing Party

  • The legislative branch can significantly affect the power of the governing party by employing a series of checks and balances.
  • The Democratic and Republican Parties can check the power of the governing party by holding seats in the legislative branch of the government.
  • The Senate has the power to consider presidential appointments of judges and executive department heads.
  • The House and Senate may, additionally, override presidential vetoes and have the sole power to declare war.
  • If one political party holds the executive branch of government then another political party can check the power of the executive branch by holding a majority of seats in the legislative branch .

• The Powers of National Government

  • The federal government is composed of three branches: executive, legislative, and judiciary, whose powers are granted by the Constitution.
  • The federal government is composed of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.
  • However, there have been periods of legislative branch dominance since then.
  • Also, states' rights proponents have succeeded in limiting federal power through legislative action, executive prerogative, or constitutional interpretation by the courts.
  • Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government.

• Presidential Action

  • The Ineligibility Clause prevents the President from being a member of Congress and cannot directly introduce legislative proposals.
  • The President of the United States has limited legislative powers.
  • Therefore, the president cannot directly introduce legislative proposals for consideration in Congress.
  • The president can further influence the legislative branch through constitutionally mandated, periodic reports to Congress.
  • In the 20th century critics began charging that too many legislative and budgetary powers have slid into the hands of presidents that should belong to Congress.

• The Division and Separation of Power

  • The Separation of Powers is defined as the division of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.
  • This philosophy heavily influenced the writing of the United States Constitution, according to which the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power.
  • Congress has the sole power to legislate for the United States.
  • Congress delegated the power to prescribe judicial procedure to the courts; it was contended that Congress had thereby unconstitutionally clothed the judiciary with legislative powers.
  • It was the framers' decision that the legislative power of the federal government be exercised in accord with a single, finely wrought, and exhaustively considered procedure.

• Inherent Powers

  • Inherent powers are assumed powers of the president not specifically listed in the Constitution.
  • Inherent powers are those powers that a sovereign state holds.
  • In other words, Inherent powers are assumed powers of the president not specifically listed in the Constitution.
  • Finally, Jefferson used the party system to cement strong ties with Congress and expanded the role of the president in the legislative process.
  • As opposed to Article 1, which states that Congress is vested with the legislative powers "herein granted," Article 2 does not use that language.

• The Legislative Function

  • The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process; legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers.
  • Article I of the Constitution states all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
  • One of Congress's foremost non-legislative functions is the power to investigate and oversee the executive branch.
  • There have been charges that presidents acting under the doctrine of the unitary executive have assumed important legislative and budgetary powers that should belong to Congress.
  • Committees write legislation.

• Chief Legislator

  • The formal powers and duties of the president are outlined in Article II of the Constitution.
  • As chief legislator, the president shapes policy.
  • In 1996, Congress attempted to enhance the president's veto power with the Line Item Veto Act.
  • Supreme Court ruled such a legislative alteration of the veto power to be unconstitutional.
  • Assess the significance of the Line Item Veto for executive power

• Political Party Leader

  • The president is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of his political party.
  • The president can take an indirect role in shaping legislation, especially if the president's political party has a majority in one or both houses of Congress.
  • Since the founding of the United States, the power of the president and the federal government have grown substantially, and each modern president, despite possessing no formal legislative powers beyond signing or vetoing congressionally passed bills, is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of his party and the foreign and domestic policy of the United States .
  • Therefore, the president cannot directly introduce legislative proposals for consideration in Congress.
  • The president can further influence the legislative branch through constitutionally mandated, periodic reports to Congress.

• The Legislative Branch

  • One of Congress's foremost non-legislative functions is the power to investigate and oversee the executive branch.
  • Article I of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government.
  • One of Congress' foremost non-legislative functions is the power to investigate and oversee the executive branch.
  • Another souce of legislation are Courts.
  • Describe the powers accorded to the Legislative Branch under Article I

• The Power of Judicial Review

  • Judicial review is the doctrine where legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary.
  • Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary.
  • Judicial review is an example of the separation of powers in a modern governmental system.
  • Judicial review can be understood in the context of two distinct—but parallel—legal systems, civil law and common law, and also by two distinct theories on democracy and how a government should be set up, legislative supremacy and separation of powers.
  • It is based on the idea that no branch of government should be more powerful than any other and that each branch of government should have a check on the powers of the other branches of government, thus creating a balance of power among all branches of government.