Paper Example on Constitutional Issues and the Scope and Character of U.S. Government

Introduction

The United States is known to be among the countries that provide full protection to its constitution as a way of ensuring that citizens get protected from any form of exploitation. Just like most government structures, the U.S. The government consists of three arms; Legislature, executive, and the judiciary. The three government arms work collectively to come up with the laws that regulate the nation. The legislative branch is in charge of making laws and is comprised of the house of representatives, the Senate, and the Congress. The Government branch in charge of executing laws is the legislature, which is comprised of the president, the vice president, and the cabinet. Judiciary is comprised of the high court and all other courts that help the public in evaluating the law. The major function of the U.S government is through the constitution is to ensure tranquility and the protection of the law as the three arms of government work hand in hand to ensure the protection of human rights. This paper provides an insight into the constitutional issues and the scope and character of the U.S. government.

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Constitutional issues and the Scope and Character of the U.S. Government

Separation of power is a major issue in the constitution of the United States (Bray et al., 2016). Power separation is a constitutional model that resulted in the three arms of government, which are the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. All three arms act independently when it comes to power execution. A constitution that allows for separate branches of government regulates the government by ensuring that no branch overpowers the other. In the legislature, Congress is in charge of creating laws, and it is prohibited from delegating the responsibility to any other arm of the government. The president is in charge of the executive branch, and he has the power to approve or decline the proposed laws from the legislature. Being the third arm of the government, the judiciary is in charge of interpreting legislature laws, and it comprises of the supreme court and all the other courts.

Legislative

The legislative power of the United States is vested in the Congress, which comprises of the House of Representatives, elected members to serve the government for two years, and the Senate that comprises two elected senators in service for six years. In the past, Senators could be chosen by the legislature, but the current constitution requires senators to be elected. Both the Senate and the house of representatives must-pass bills, and upon approval by the government, both houses require two-thirds majority votes for the bill to become a law. Article 1, section 8 of the constitution, contains the power vested in Congress, and the Congress cannot exercise extra powers that are not listed in the article. The legislative powers cover matters that concern taxation and government expenditure, money lending, and borrowing; it is in charge of foreign trade; it maintains the army and has the power to declare war. Some of the legislative powers have been wrongly interpreted, such as the power to make laws.

Executive

The executive branch of the government has its power vested in the president. The four-year term election of the president is done through the electoral college, whereby all states have several members who are the same in number as members of the house and the Senate. Before a candidate gets voted in by the state, they have to get the highest number of votes before they are declared as winners. In cases where none of the candidates get the majority votes, the house of representative selects the winner. A candidate must be thirty-five years and over and a U.S. citizen by birth before they get elected to be voted in as the president. The executive power granted to the president in article 11 is essential but has some limitations.

According to the constitution, the president is the chief in command of the armed forces and has the power to grant pardon (Eckstein & Colby, 2019). The Senate has granted the president with the power to appoint judges, make treaties, to appoint ambassadors, and to appoint public officers of the U.S. Any other powers that can be executed by the president that are not outlined in the constitution are subject to debate. However, the president is under the supervision of Congress to some level. Congress has powers to settle disputes independently and can pass laws and sometimes over the president's veto. The Senate has the responsibility to confirm the president's most essential appointments. The house and two-thirds of the Senate have the power to impeach the president from office. This indicates that even though the president is in charge of the executive in the U.S. government, such powers could still be under scrutiny by the other two arms of the government. The constitution does not give the president full powers as such could lead to dictatorship.

Judiciary

The judiciary consists of federal judges who become appointed by the president and through the Senate confirmation. Under the constitution, all federal courts have limited jurisdiction and can only listen to cases that are controversial, meaning that they do not have the powers to exercise non-judicial functions or to advise the president or the Congress about the constitution. High-court judges do not have the right to hear all cases but can only sit for cases that are recognized in the United States judicial powers as outlined in the third article. The reason behind the limitation of cases to be heard by judges under the third article is to protect several interests of the country at large. As much the judiciary can distribute or limit the jurisdiction of some federal courts, it is still subjected under the will of the Congress. The unique nature of the federal courts in the U.S. that does not exist in other countries is that the courts can put a declaration on a statue that has been enacted by the Congress to have violated the constitution and termed it as invalid. The supreme court enacted the unique judicial power in 1803.

If a congressional statute becomes declared as unconstitutional by the supreme court, the only way that the results could be changed is through the amendment of the constitution, which is a difficult process. The power of the supreme court is still limited, even though it makes the final decision on the interpretation of the constitution. The executive must work together with the court before it enforces judgment, and Congress has some level of control over the decisions made by the judiciary. The judiciary itself cannot accept the power to interpret some parts of the constitution as it claims that the constitution has delegated such responsibilities to other arms of the government. For instance, the court cannot accept to act on matters that concern judgment on the qualification of congress members as it believes that such matters have been delegated to Congress itself by the constitution.

Separation of power in the constitution is related to the checks and balance system, which provides the different arms of government with independent authority to overlook other branches and to prevent them from executing excessive powers (Price, 2018). For instance, Congress creates laws through the legislative arm, and the president, who is in charge of the executive arm, can pass the laws or decline them. The judiciary, through the supreme court, has unconditional authority to declare a law. The three arms of government have ultimate powers to appoint or remove government members from the other branches. For instance, Congress has powers to impeach the president for serious crimes such as corruption. Senate has powers to remove the president from office, and the high court judges get to be appointed by the president, and they get confirmed by the Senate. The house of representatives in the Senate has the power to remove a judge from office through impeachment. The division of the government into three arms, therefore, provides each branch with the opportunity to check out on each other.

Constitutional Issues

The U.S. government has some constitutional issues that include the aspect of freedom of speech, which is a fundamental right that should be accorded to all citizens. Everybody is entitled to express their views and opinion about anything that they wish to without the fear of harassment and detention from the government. Common citizens were, for many centuries, denied the freedom of speech. The U.S. is among the countries that do not allow people to express themselves fully and this is why the constitution gives special attention to freedom of speech. The right to speech should allow citizens to express themselves on anything that they are interested in. On the contrary, not all citizens are granted freedom of speech and expression.

Among the greatest achievements that the U.S. government attained was by coming up with a constitutional structure that was effective and applicable within the political institutions. The major aspects of the constitution are federalism and the separation of power. Federalism works intending to separate government powers as it limits the full functions of the government by coming up with two sovereign powers that work independently. The division of government into the state and the national government prevents the government from working as a whole as the decisions that are made by the national government are different from those made by the state government. Separation of government put a restrain on the influence of both governments.

Power separation in the government is the reason behind the internal limits that exist within the government, as this is simply the act of dividing a government against itself. It means that separate government branches get entitled to different functions, which leave them with the only option of power-sharing. Among the merits of federalism in the U.S government is the fact that it provides room for diversity when it comes to opinions that concern the government, and it resulted in policy innovation. Different states can freely take advantage of their political authority to come up with innovative policies that could be adopted by other states and even at the national government level. It allowed for states to come up with beneficiary laws such as the child labor laws that were put in place by the state government.

The Implications of Federalism to the U.S. Government

The fact that federalism enhances two separate government bodies that have the same authority to decide on matters that concern the constitution, elected government representatives can help to put the desired policy into law in case one government level fails to attain an aspired political goal. Federalism provides room for social movements, individuals, and groups to equally take part in and contribute to public policy (Gerston, 2015). Additionally, the existing systems within the political system, such as checks and balance systems, cannot allow the national government to implement discriminatory policies in the country. Federalism is, therefore, beneficial in that it provides a platform for the states and local communities to give their opinion on policy issues that affect their interests.

A federal government means that there is an equal distribution of power and low chances of dictatorship. The fear of tyranny was the main drive behind federalism. It is less likely for a dictatorship government to rise when certain government powers get to be shared with the state government.