The Powers And Limitations Of Power For The Three Branches...

Articles 1, 2, and 3 in the constitution discuss the powers and limitations of power for the three branches of government. There are checks and balances to keep one branch dominating the government. These factors work hand in hand to create our government. Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress its many, but limited, powers enabling it to serve its purpose. Congress’s main powers are: to collect, levy, and raise taxes, to make laws regarding bankruptcy, naturalization of its citizens, and otherwise regulate commerce, to coin money and regulate its value, to create post offices and roads, to protect a person s intellectual property, and to declare war, this includes raising land and naval forces. Other powers that Congress has is to borrow money on credit of the United States, to regulate commerce with other nations, between states and with Indian tribes. Article I Section 9 of the Constitution states the limitations of Congress. One of the limitations is ruling a case where ex post facto is happening. This means that they are not allowed to charge a person with crimes that were not specified when the crime was committed. This was the argument of Peugh in the Peugh vs. United States case. A second limitatio n is to prevent Congress from passing bills of attainder, this goes along with the 6th amendment of the Constitution. The last of the main limitations is so that they are not allowed to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. This protects the peopleShow MoreRelatedGovernment: Constitutional Powers and Limits1210 Words   |  5 Pages(US Const. Preamble). They intended to establish a central government without granting it too much power. To ensure that, the framers both, limited and empowered the government in certain ar- eas. But since the original seven articles of the Constitution are over 200 years old, the framers could not foresee the expansion of the government’s power that has happened until the present day. With the â€Å"war on terror† being one of the governments priorities, questions arise if the gov- ernment has becomeRead MoreConstitutional Law And The Legal System830 Words   |  4 PagesWith the media giving cost play to the term Constitutional, in refer ence to ongoing discussions between the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch, some confusion concerning the power of Constitutional Law and its foundation for our legal system is understandable. Constitutional law is not confined to the founding document as the sole source of our legal system. 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The Legislative Congress is the only branch of government thatRead MoreThe Doctrine Of Separation Of Power966 Words   |  4 Pagesof separation of power is a vital element of modern, democratic systems of government. At the same time, it will show the basic points of working process in Australian legal system. Callie Harvey declared that only under the condition that separation of power can be maintained between parts of government, the democratic civilisation can be justly ruled. In fact, the legal system in Australia is divided into three branches, which are based on the doctrine of separation of power, with the main ambitionRead MoreIndividual Constitution and Systems of the State1324 Words   |  6 Pagesfor a balance in power. However, the establishment of such posed to be no easy task for our founding fathers. Originally the new state’s constitutions foundation was based off the thirteen colonial charters (Bowman Kearney, 2011, p56). Which was modified a short while later, as the colonies were expanded, to include the â€Å"rights of Englishmen† (Bowman Kearney 2011, p. 56). According to Bowman Kearney (2011), â€Å"All state constitutions both distribute and constrain political power among groups andRead MoreThree branches of government1113 Words   |  5 Page sï » ¿ ABSTRACT The components of the constitution are the framework for our country, and all function to give our government structure. The judicial, legislative, and executive branches are all key components that make up our government, acting independently from the others, and allowing for checks and balances in order to prevent misuse of power. Federalism affects how our government is run, and especially the criminal justice system. Within our criminal justice system the main components are lawRead MoreNew And Old Powers Of The United States Government System Essay1011 Words   |  5 PagesJavier Cangas Mrs. Carney Government 1113 11 October 2016 New and Old Powers The United States government system is a well developed system to watch over the nation and maintain order. Citizens of the country argue that the Government is out to get them or somehow some way not doing what is right. I myself cannot say what exactly the government is doing right or wrong. Throughout my life I have had many great amenities as every tax paying citizen should have the right to. That being said, I amRead MoreU.S. Constitution1087 Words   |  5 PagesConstitution Paper The United States Constitution provides the National Government three distinctive branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial Branch, each with its own form of powers, duties and roles. 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Bush V. Gore Free Essays

Josh Hanlon January 11th, 2013 CLN4U-01 Mr. Currie Law Research Essay Bush vs. Gore: Why The Votes Should Have Been Counted Bush vs. We will write a custom essay sample on Bush V. Gore or any similar topic only for you Order Now Gore was described as a controversial election to say the least. The votes in several Florida counties were put up into question as to whether they should be counted or not. In a Democratic Election all legal votes must be counted. The main arguments around this issue were Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, the interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause and confusion around voting deadlines during the Recount. This process was exacerbated by the lack of impartial justices and secretary of state. The initial argument surrounding this issue is Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution. Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution states, â€Å"In presidential elections, each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, the electors to which the State is entitled. † That being said 3 justices, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas all argued that Florida violated this; there argument placed a lot of emphasis on the word â€Å"legislature†. Meaning to say that there is a difference between the State, who is empowered to appoint its own electors and that own State’s legislature. Furthermore, this Article of the Constitution is completely out of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction in the circumstances. The Supreme Court should have nothing to do with matters of state law in between the State and their own Legislature. Also, the Florida Supreme Court held that â€Å"a legal vote may include any ballot from which it is reasonably possible to determine the clear intent of the voter, whether or not the ‘chad’ had been completely punched through, which is consistent with the law of the clear majority of the States†. Chief Justice Rehnquist in his opinion argued that this interpretation was so ridiculous and not mirrored with Florida legislation, that it violated Article 2. He claimed that because most counties use punch cards that tell you to clearly punch your ballot no reasonable person could count a vote that wasn’t clearly punched all the way through. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) The Florida Election Code states that â€Å"no vote shall be declared invalid if there is a clear indication of the intent of the voter†, also a 60 year old Florida Law precedent states that â€Å"must give statutes relating to elections a construction in favor of the citizen’s right to vote, and the intention of the voters should prevail when counting ballots† (Constitution of the State of Florida, As Revised in 1968) After hearing this, the other 6 Justices concluded that the Florida Supreme Court decision was in long established precedent and said it didn’t even raise a question under Article 2 of the Constitution. In simpler terms, stating that all of those votes were legal and that the standards set were sufficient to determine which votes should and should not be counted. Onto the Equal Protection Clause, the Supreme Court basically contradicts themselves on this matter. After stating the voting standards set by the Florida Supreme Court didn’t violate Article 2, they continued on to state that it violates the Equal Protection clause because â€Å"the standards for accepting or rejecting contested ballots might vary not only from county to county but even within a single county† (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ). What is startling is that the Florida Constitution states, â€Å"The intention of the voters should prevail when counting ballots† meaning that if there is any intention the vote should be counted, and if this wasn’t precise enough for the Supreme Court why did they vote to uphold it on the Article 2, Section 1 vote? If the Supreme Court required a uniform standard for counting and recounting votes in Florida, why does it not need a uniform standard for voting? Is the fact that punch card voting has a sufficiently higher chance of having your vote not counted compared to computer voting where there is a bare minimum chance of your votes not being counted violating the Equal Protection Clause as well? Or is it the fact that punch card counties are more commonly in low income counties, who tend to vote Republican (Al Gore)? All of these things ould be seen as discriminatory or â€Å"not equal† as well as the non-uniform standard for counting, but if the Supreme Court has decided that the recount standard is in violation then in thought the whole Election should be rendered â€Å"Unconstitutional† and put to an end, correct? To continue, no it should not be put to an end. The Supreme Court should have ordered a stay on the Recount until a uniform standard was put in place for all of the Florida Counties and they should have ordered that every state have a uniform standard for Recounts for future elections. The Supreme Court made a Pragmatic but Unlawful decision in voting for the violation of the Equal Protection Clause which led to the stoppage of the 2000 Florida Recount. (Bo Li, Perspectives, Vol. 2, No. 3). This goes without mentioning the fact that Bush’s state of Texas had a uniform voting standard which allowed anything to be counted in the scenario of a recount including a dimpled chad. This means that Governor Bush signed in a bill that let any vote with slight intent be counted in the process of a Recount, yet is arguing that intent of a voter is an unconstitutional argument. This is hypocritical and shows a lack of character, if Bush truly believes in the Constitution he should be letting all the legal votes be counted to see if he actually won the Presidency of the United States. If Bush truly cared about the simple uniform standards for Recounting, he should have ordered for a stay until uniform standards were set in place. Instead he argued the entire Recount unconstitutional and the 5-4 majority (5 Republican Judges-4 Democratic Judges) decided that there was no reason to Recount possibly legal votes when it had a chance of harming Bush’s chance to become Prime Minister. Legal analysts from all over the Country explained it as the Justices trying to make a pragmatic decision by putting an end to this controversy, turns out it backfired on them. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) The third point to be explained in this case is the ongoing controversy over voting deadlines and how the ever so bright Secretary of State in Florida Katherine Harris’ thoughts were constantly being controlled by Bush advisors. Katherine Harris (and Friends) made it very clear that they would ot be accepting votes after a certain deadline, which left no time for the original recount. All these votes had to be stamped and signed to be considered legal votes. This left the Democratic Party frantically trying to recount votes and get them stamped and in on time. When she ruled that if votes were not stamped and signed they could not be accepted, the Democratic Party argued that tons of Military votes could not be counted because they were very rarely stamped and sig ned. In the US there is no voting law that states Military Votes can be accepted with no signature or stamp. This obviously led to an uproar from Republicans (Who most military votes get casted for) because it was just unethical for the Democrats to take away illegal votes for the Republicans. What the Republicans fail to realize is that taking away Florida citizens legal votes because you are scared of losing is also unethical. The Democrats later changed their minds and told the Secretary to reconsider the Military votes and give them special consideration. (Joseph I. Lieberman, Military Ballots Merit a Review) There are a few other factors I would like to add to perspective before closing my argument, in Florida the Republican swayed Secretary of State Katherine Harris put 20 Thousand people on the Voter Purge list. A Large group of these people had never done anything wrong, in particular an African-American Pastor could not vote because his name was similar to that of a hardened criminal in Florida (HBO Documentary, Recount). The most interesting fact of all was that the 3 Judges who voted for Bush in both instances (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas) were all considered Republican judges. In the last 30 years at the Supreme Court the 19 Cases involving the Equal Protection Clause concerning laws against race, elderly, and other minorities they voted a perfect 19 for 19 to uphold the Equal Protection Clause. Yet, the one case involving Politics and the party they are associated with they for some strange reason voted against it with very little reasoning. (Geoffrey R. Stone, Equal Protection? ) If that’s not Politics in Black Robes, what is. In Conclusion, Legal votes in Florida were not counted when they should have een. The various ideas such as the proper vote in Article 2, Section 1, the contradiction and unlawful voting on the Equal Protection Clause and the confusing deadlines regarding votes were all examples of how things can be exacerbated by impartial Judges and Secretary of States. The votes in Florida should have been recounted after a uniform standard was put in place similar to the one in Texas and the real results of the 2000 Election should have been deciphered. All else aside, the whole United States should have a uniform voting, counting and recounting standard to eliminate all this confusion in the future. Bibliography http://www. leg. state. fl. us/statutes/index. cfm? mode=constitutionsubmenu=3 http://www. nytimes. com/2000/11/20/us/counting-vote-absentee-ballots-military-ballots-merit-review-lieberman-says. html? pagewanted=allsrc=pm http://fathom. lib. uchicago. edu/1/777777122240/ http://www. oycf. org/Perspectives2/9_123100/bush_v1. htm HBO Documentary, Recount How to cite Bush V. Gore, Essay examples