How does the system of check balancing work?

Answer 1

There are three branches of government: The Executive (The President), The Legislative (Congress), and The Judicial (The court system). Each of these branches deals with law in a very different way. There is also a system in place to keep any one of these branches from gaining too much power; the system of checks and balances.

The system works like this. Congress can create laws, but must first get the law (in bill form) to be passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This way, the two parts of Congress balance each other. The two parts are different because in the Senate, every state gets two representatives, so all states have equal say. In the House of Representatives, each state has a number of representatives based on population, so states with more people have more say. If both parts of Congress agree, they send the bill to the President for his signature or veto. The veto is how the President asserts his authority and "checks" Congress. To avoid a situation where the President can just veto anything he wants to, Congress can have an override vote, if they disagree with the President's veto.

The court system can rule as to the legality of a law, bill, or executive order. They keep Congress and the President from violating any laws or restricting the rights of Americans.