The Power of Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch

The legislative branch is the most powerful branch in government. The legislative branch is in charge of making and passing laws. They have the power to override a president’s decision, stop laws from being passed, and basically control all decisions the governments makes. The legislative branch, also called the congress, consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The reason for two houses of congress is to balance out the concerns of smaller but more populated states against states that are larger but with less population. The Legislative branch was initially designed to be a slightly more powerful and important branch of the US government. The voice of “We the people” is designed to be represented by the Congress. Many think that Executive branch is the most powerful because that is where the president serves in. Once a law has been passed by the Congress, the Executive branch has only two choices: the president may accept (sign) or reject (veto) the law. A two thirds majority vote of the Congress will override a presidential veto. The Executive branch does not have the Constitutional power to accept only those provisions of the law with which the president agrees.
The Judicial branch has the power to declare laws unconstitutional; however, they may not do this at their own discretion. The Judicial branch is limited by the fact that a case must first be brought before the court.

This is a great question. I believe one could that there are situations where one branch has the ability to wield its power over another. Given current headlines, power is perceived as synonymous with abuse. With that assumption, the legislative branch has the power to pass law often without the support or knowledge of constituents. Legislators create additional streams of revenue via big money lobbyists. The executive branch has the power to make itself exempt from laws governing the rest of the country. As Richard Nixon states, 'when the President does it, it's not illegal." Signing statements reached an all time high during the Bush administration, making many of the laws created during and prior to his administration null and void where his actions were concerned. The judicial branch becomes the moral barometer of the nation making it the standard bearer of mores and values. If the court deems an issue to be unacceptable to be heard, the other branches are powerless in bringing it to the forefront of our collective thoughts. All three branches have power, but the level of power depends on the current balance of power in our two party system in each of the branches.