Do you think the Legislative branch is too strong?

[rade0110]

Originally Posted by Relambrien

While Congress can overturn decisions made by the other branches, in order to do so it must have a 2/3 majority in favor of a certain decision. When you have 300 million+ people in a country all divided between two major parties, getting a 2/3 majority on anything the other branches would reject is nearly impossible.

For this reason, I actually consider the judicial branch the branch with the most practical power. Since there are only 9 justices, it's much easier to get a majority to think a certain way, and therefore easier to hand down a ruling (which is equivalent to law for all intents and purposes). Even though Congress could overturn the decision, it would need a 2/3 majority, which is ridiculously difficult for the reasons stated above.

Of course, the Supreme Court can't do anything it wants, simply because the more ridiculous a ruling is, the easier it is for Congress to get a majority to overturn it. If the Court abolished free speech, it wouldn't matter whether Congress was 51% Democrat or Republican--well over 2/3 of them would vote to overturn the decision.

So while the legislative branch has the most theoretical power, power is spread very well practically.

There is so much more involved to what you said it's rediculous. First off, the Supreme Court has nothing to do with what laws are passed. They only determine what the law means. If a law says "People have the right to kill people in self-defense." It is the Supreme Court's decision to decide what is "self-defense." As far as the whole 2/3 majority thing, there is a whole precurser to that part. Also, congress doesn't veto anything. Only the president does. The whole overturning part comes in when the president does actually decide to veto a law/bill. Then congress comes together to determine whether or not to overturn a veto. That takes 2/3 the majority. I could go on, but i think that's enough.

BTW, all branches of the government have too much power. The Founding Fathers would be turning over in their graves if they saw how much control the government has today. However all branches of the government are necessary.