A balancing act.

• Author: Hatchett, Joseph W.
• Position: Separation of powers

"If citizens have respect for the work of their courts, their respect for law will survive the shortcomings of every other branch of government; but if they lose their respect for the work of the courts, their respect for law and order will vanish with it."--Arthur T. Vanderbilt

How much power should a government have? How should such power be distributed? What rights should a government guarantee to its citizens? These questions were among those debated in the historical development of our government and continue to be the focus of national debate in our country today. The balancing act of liberty and order continues to be examined and applied to contemporary issues and situations throughout the U.S. and the world.

One of the primary aims of good government is the protection of individual rights. (1) Yet today evidence suggests that the majority of Americans know little about their rights. How can we hold government accountable for the protection of our rights when we do not even know what they are? We cannot.

In a study conducted by the First Amendment Foundation and the American Journalism Review, only two percent of Americans polled could identify the five rights in the First Amendment. (2) However, such freedoms are deemed as the most fundamental to the principles of American democracy. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances define the very essence of American society. While government has the responsibility to protect individual rights, we as citizens hold a dual responsibility to know and understand these rights.

The U.S. and Florida constitutions provide the structure and function of government as well as protect individual rights. Three separate and distinct branches were designed with separate primary powers and functions. The accumulation of all power in one branch was something the framers of the Constitution feared would lead to tyranny. "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." (3) However, the framers also knew these three separate and distinct branches of government needed a system of controls or constitutional checks over each other to keep them "in their proper places." (4)

The Balancing Act

Checks and balances are important components of the design of our government. Each branch of government shares in the powers of the other two so that each can also limit the powers of the others. (5) Without effective checks, in a government based on the will of the people, the majority could exercise tyranny over a minority through their popularly elected government representatives. The main point of separation of powers with checks and balances in our government is the prevention of tyranny and the equal protection of individual rights under law. (6)

The constitutional design of these conjoined principles--separation of powers with checks and balances--is exemplified by articles I, II, and III in the U.S. Constitution. 7 Congress has the legislative or lawmaking power. The president and the executive branch carry out and enforce the laws. The Supreme Court and inferior courts have the judicial powers that involve interpretation of the law in specific cases. The president, however, can check Congress by vetoing or refusing to approve proposed legislation. In turn, the Congress can override an executive veto by a two-thirds vote. Furthermore...