answersLogoWhite

0

If this question relates to the President of the United States, the position has nothing to do with the legislature.

The Constitution sets up three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Each branch operates, essentially, independently, with some interconnections which allow "a system of checks and balances" by which they keep each other from becoming dominant. This is how the US system avoids despotism.

The President of the US is the "Chief Executive": his responsibilities, spelled out in the Constitution, are to execute the laws and to ensure their even application. Within the executive branch, the president can generate what might be considered "laws", executive orders, which do not have any legislative origin (ie, the pres writes them. They are in effect. Period, until a president removes them. I'm not even sure if there is precedent for the Judicial branch to review or nullify executive orders, but that's another subject!)

The Legislature, in the US, the House of Representatives and the Senate, write the bills which they then debate, modify, amend and vote on. When those bills have passed both houses, they are presented to the President of the US, who has the option of vetoing them, currently on an all-or-nothing basis. (The "line item veto" so often referred to in the current campaign platforms is a change to the Constitution which is proposed to allow the president to veto individual parts of a bill, and would require a constitutional convention to put into place. This would make the president very much a part of the legislative process, where he now is relatively peripheral to the process.) By his veto, the President can stop a bill from becoming law...temporarily. There are mechanisms built into the Constitution which allow an override of a Presidential veto by the legislative branch.

Other checks-and-balances mechanisms include the Legislative branches ability to try and impeach a sitting president or a sitting judge, and the Supreme Court's ability to rule on the constitutionality of a law produced by the legislative branch and signed by the President.

User Avatar

Wiki User

17y ago

Still curious? Ask our experts.

Chat with our AI personalities

JudyJudy
Simplicity is my specialty.
Chat with Judy
FranFran
I've made my fair share of mistakes, and if I can help you avoid a few, I'd sure like to try.
Chat with Fran
BeauBeau
You're doing better than you think!
Chat with Beau
More answers

As a general rule, the U.S. government has a system of checks and balances for a balance of power between three separate, but equal branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial). However, according to the U.S. Constitution, the United States of America is a government created by the people ("We the people…"). As the 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, stated in his famous Gettysburg Address, "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Therefore, the people are ultimately the highest authority, and it is the will of the majority that controls the government (in theory), and the Congress is the tool by which they assert their authority. If the citizens of the United States do not like the way things are working (or not working), they can petition their government, or vote in representatives that will make changes to the law via the Congress. The Executive branch enforces the law, and the Judicial Branch interprets the law.

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago
User Avatar

Niether has more power than the other because government created the three branches to potentially prevent an imbalance of powers. In the constitution these powers are known as checks and balances.

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago
User Avatar

They are the only ones who can write legislative bills, but that does not necessarily make them more powerful.

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: Who has more powers executive or legislature why?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp