What does “checks and balances” mean?

Answer 1

1. The system of checks and balances in government was developed to ensure that no one branch of government would become too powerful. The framers of the U.S. Constitution built a system that divides power between the three branches of the U.S. government—legislative, executive and judicial—and includes various limits and controls on the powers of each branch.

2. A system that allows each branch of a government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent any one branch from exerting too much power.

3. The main purpose of the system of checks and balances in the United States Constitution is to ensure that no one branch of the American government becomes more powerful than the others. This is also referred to as the separation of powers.

Answer 2

Checks and Balances is the means whereby each branch of government has some control on the other branches. Congress, for example, may pass a law but the President may check Congress and reject the law by his veto power. The Congress, in turn, can check the President by overriding the veto by a two-thirds vote of each house. The federal courts can check the executive and the legislative branches by the power of judicial review, the right to declare laws and actions unconstitutional. The President has the power to nominate federal judges, thereby checking the make-up of the federal court system.

Answer 3

1. The system of checks and balances in government was developed to ensure that no one branch of government would become too powerful. The framers of the U.S. Constitution built a system that divides power between the three branches of the U.S. government—legislative, executive and judicial—and includes various limits and controls on the powers of each branch.

2. A system that allows each branch of a government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent any one branch from exerting too much power.

3. The main purpose of the system of checks and balances in the United States Constitution is to ensure that no one branch of the American government becomes more powerful than the others. This is also referred to as the separation of powers.