Has checks and balances survived?

Since 1787 the power of all 3 branches has grown dramatically Congress – implied powers The President – foreign policy The supreme court – judicial review These developments have accompanied the growth of new checks, mostly aimed at the presidency

A strong system of congressional committees The Standing Committee’s powers are considerable compared to UK parliamentary select committees The Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) set up in the wake of Watergate have a decisive effect on the annual budget – compare to UK Other powerful committees – Foreign Relations, Judiciary (Senate)

Parties Parties were anathema to the Founding Fathers Partisanship can be destructive e.g. Clinton’s impeachment and failure of health care reform

Judicial Review Not found in constitution and thus not an original check and balance Marbury vs. Madison (1803) It checks the power of the President, Congress and the states. The Supreme Court is itself only restrained by a perception of what is politically acceptable at a given time

The Fourth Estate The press can also act as a watchdog for democracy E.g. the New York Times and the Pentagon Papers

Post-Watergate checks on the Presidency The War Powers Act (1973) Budget Committees and the CBO Were devised to counter the perceived rise of an ‘Imperial Presidency’

‘Impaired Presidency’ Produced by the post-Watergate checks A need to check Congress The Supreme court performed this function in 1983 when deciding that the Congressional veto was unconstitutional

Resurgent presidency May have been achieved by Reagan (1980-88) Yet Reagan was thwarted over Iran-Contra ‘Resurgent’ not an apt description of Bush Senior and Clinton administrations 1998 Supreme Court ruled that the Line Item veto (used by President) was unconstitutional However, both Bush Senior and Clinton had few checks in the field of foreign policy

Federalism Amendment 10 ‘the powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people’ Power has tended to drift to the centre despite efforts by Reagan to give more power to the states

Conclusion ‘A harmonious system of mutual frustration’ Richard Hofstadter Gridlock