legislative branch

Examples of legislative branch in the following topics:

• [PF content: The Legislative Branch in Action]

• Checking the Power of the Governing Party

  • The legislative branch of the United States government is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives.
  • The legislative branch can also check the governing party by starting investigations against the executive branch.
  • 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 .
  • While the Democratic Party occupied the executive branch, the Republican Party held the majority of seats in the legislative branch.
  • This division of parties between the executive and legislative branches impairs the ability of the president to enact policies, since the legislative branch must first approve these policies.

• The Powers of State Government

  • State governments are structured in accordance with state law and they share the same structural model as the federal system; they also contain three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial.
  • The legislative branch of the states consists of state legislatures.
  • An elected Governor heads the executive branch of every state.
  • Most states have a plural executive, where several key members of the executive branch are directly elected by the people and serve alongside the Governor.
  • A supreme court that hears appeals from lower state courts heads the judicial branch in most states.

• Senate Confirmation

  • In theory, this procedure allows both the executive and legislative branches to have some power over the judiciary and thus check the judicial branch's power.
  • The principle of checks and balances allows branches of government to be isolated from each other so that no branch has total power over all functions of government.
  • As such, an attack on or abuse of power by individuals of a single branch will not lead to tyranny or the fall of the entire government.
  • The judicial branch, however, holds the potential to nullify laws approved by the legislative branch, disregard the executive branch, and, (in essence) control the rule of law in the United States in accordance to the opinions of its sitting justices.

• 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.
  • Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government.
  • This branch hears and eventually makes decisions on various legal cases.

• Presidential Action

  • The President of the United States has limited legislative powers.
  • For example, the president or other officials of the executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress.
  • The president can further influence the legislative branch through constitutionally mandated, periodic reports to Congress.
  • Conservative commentator George Will wrote of an increasingly swollen executive branch and the eclipse of Congress.
  • Union Trust Building, Washington D.C.Home to the American Bar Association's Branch office

• Political Party Leader

  • The president is largely responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of his political party.
  • For example, the president or other officials of the executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress.
  • The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
  • For example, the president or other officials of the executive branch may draft legislation and then ask senators or representatives to introduce these drafts into Congress.
  • The president can further influence the legislative branch through constitutionally mandated, periodic reports to Congress.

• Regulating Executive Branch Lobbyists

  • Lobbying the Executive Branch is similar to any other branch of the U.S. government and is regulated by laws pertaining to disclosure.
  • The state governments did much more legislating than the federal government.
  • Complexity encouraged more specialized lobbying, often with more than one agency affected by any one piece of legislation.
  • Executive branch agencies added a new layer of rule-making to congressional legislation.
  • In many ways, lobbying the Executive Branch is similar to any other branch of the U.S. government and is thereby regulated by laws pertaining to disclosure discussed in Regulation Congressional Lobbyists.

• The Legislative Function

  • The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process; legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers.
  • One of Congress's foremost non-legislative functions is the power to investigate and oversee the executive branch.
  • Some critics have charged that Congress has, in some instances, failed to do an adequate job of overseeing the other branches of government.
  • Committees write legislation.
  • They also perform the function of oversight by monitoring the executive branch and investigating wrongdoing.

• 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 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.
  • In the United States, judicial review is considered a key check on the powers of the other two branches of government by the judiciary.