By: Emily Miller and Ronni Ho B block

John Adams was the first to say the words, “Checks and Balances.” DEFINITION: limits imposed on all branches of a government by vesting in each branch the right to amend or void those acts of another that fall within its purview.

Checks on the Executive  Impeachment power (House)  Trial of impeachments (Senate)  Selection of the President (House) and Vice President (Senate) in the case of no majority of electoral votes  May override Presidential vetoes  Senate approves departmental appointments  Senate approves treaties and ambassadors  Approval of replacement Vice President  Power to declare war  Power to enact taxes and allocate funds  President must, from time-to-time, deliver a State of the Union address Checks on the Judiciary  Senate approves federal judges  Impeachment power (House)  Trial of impeachments (Senate)  Power to initiate constitutional amendments  Power to set courts inferior to the Supreme Court  Power to set jurisdiction of courts  Power to alter the size of the Supreme Court

 Checks on the Legislature - because it is bicameral, the Legislative branch has a degree of self-checking.  Bills must be passed by both houses of Congress  House must originate revenue bills  Neither house may adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other house  All journals are to be published

KHALED SAID Mr. Said a 28 year old, protested against the government. He was a victim of the Hosni Mubarak’s security police. He did not see his 29 th birthday which is the day he was stoned to death by the police. The government said that he swallowed a drug packet and choked.

This is a picture of Khaled Said before the Egypt government got a hold of him. In this video you will see a small part of him after he was stoned to death.

If we did not have the legislative branch the United States would be a mess. Without the legislative branch there would be no laws for us to follow. Also, there would be no reason for us to have the other branches of government. We would not really have a government. Everyone would be able to do what ever they wanted to. Things would be out of control. We would have criminals everywhere we looked. Our lives would be endangered. We would not get stoned to death because in this country we have the freedom of speech. There should be no unreasonable punishments in this country. Khaled Said was speaking against the government. So he was stoned by the police. This is one example of a unreasonable punishment. Khaled we just speaking out his opinion, not telling the government what to do.