The U.S. Constitution serves to establish a government of the people and by the people. The Constitution also allows for elected leaders of the people. Because the founders knew that human nature was flawed and that, even in a country based on individual rights and freedoms, there may some who try to take more power than what is given to them when they are elected. For this reason, the founders put constitutional restraints on political power of elected individuals. For instance, a limitations on Congress is that it cannot appoint someone King or give titles of nobility. While this is not a normal fear of Americans today, in 1789, when the Constitution was created, it was a fear because the successful American Revolution had been fought to be free of the oppressive power of the king of England. Not only can Congress not appoint someone king (or any other sort of sovereign ruler) an American leader cannot constitutionally consent to such an appointment either.
Another type of limitation found in the Constitution are the enumerated powers given to elected officials. For instance, the president—the executive branch—can veto laws, but does not make laws theoretically, although presidents can issue executive orders that are like laws, but are easier for the president’s successor to do away with. This has been demonstrated in the current administration who has canceled several of the executive orders issued by President Obama. The executive branch’s purpose is to administer or execute the laws. Congress—the legislative branch—makes the laws, but cannot interpret them or administer them. The Supreme Court—the judicial branch—does not make or administer laws; they interpret them. A good example is the Affordable Care Act (ACA). President Obama worked with congress to create and fund the law, and then the executive branch, which consists of the president’s cabinet, executed the law by changing the way health care was paid for. When there was a challenge to a provision in the law, the Supreme Court heard the arguments and found in favor of the ACA.
Another limit on power enumerated in the Constitution is the powers that states have and the power that the federal government has. This is known as federalism. The federal government and state governments often work together. The ACA is another good example of this. When Congress approved funding for the ACA, it did it through a system already in place, Medicaid. Medicaid is administered by each individual state, so the federal government provided the funding, and the state governments opted in or out of expanding their Medicaid through the ACA, a federal program. If states chose to work with the federal government, their citizens could be covered by federally funded healthcare insurance. If they did not choose to expand Medicare, their citizens could still go through the federal government to obtain health insurance, but there was no avenue to take through the state government.
The federal government concerns itself with protecting the individual rights found in the Constitution, while states usually concern themselves with other types of business that may or may not affect the rights of individuals. However, if a state law infringes on the rights of an American citizen, then the Supreme Court can hear how the law negatively affects individual freedom. In 1969, the Supreme Court heard a case called Loving v. Virginia. The state of Virginia arrested and prosecuted a biracial couple because it was against Virginia state law for people of different races to marry. The Supreme Court found in favor of the Lovings, and because of that ruling, laws preventing interracial marriage were abandoned by other states too. This is how the Supreme Court limits the powers of both the state and the federal government to make laws that are interpreted as unconstitutional.
The individual freedoms found in the Constitution are from the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. These amendments lay out what types of freedoms the federal government must protect for all citizens. The First Amendment, for example, grants individuals the right to freedom of speech, the press, religion, and assembly. That means that if people want to peacefully march in the streets to protest they can. If they want to say terrible things about the government and have the terrible things printed in a publication that is also guaranteed by the Constitution. People can hold whatever religious beliefs they choose, the government of the United States must allow them to do so, and furthermore, must protect all of these rights because that is the federal government’s obligation when the government is by the people and for the people.
A further limitation on political power comes from the structure of the legislative branch. There are two legislative houses: the Ho
Order this paper