Power Branch

Introduces laws Legislative

Declares laws unconstitutional Judicial

Signs bills into law Executive

Coins money Legislative

Nominates Supreme Court justices Executive

Declares war Legislative

Vetoes bills Executive

Interprets/Makes meaning of laws Judicial

Serves as commander-in-chief of the army and navy Executive

Issues a pardon Executive

Overrides a presidential veto Legislative

Borrows money on behalf of the US Legislative

Makes treaties Executive

Impeaches/removes the president Legislative

Power Branch

Introduces laws

Declares laws unconstitutional

Signs bills into law

Coins money

Nominates Supreme Court justices

Declares war

Vetoes bills

Interprets/Makes meaning of laws

Serves as commander-in-chief of the army and navy

Issues a pardon

Overrides a presidential veto

Borrows money on behalf of the US

Makes treaties

Impeaches/removes the president

Identify the branch of

government who holds

each power.

Enquiry Question: How powerful is Congress?

Learning Outcomes

• To evaluate the extent to which Congress is still a powerful body

Which branch of government is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:

• You will work in three groups, with each of you playing the role of a branch of government.

• Familiarise yourself with the powers for your branch and read the directions for part one.

• You have 10 minutes to prepare the role playing scenario.

• You need to brain storm the actions that you can take to accomplish your goal.

YOUR TASK:

• Having prepared your scenarios, you need to present your idea to the other branches of government.

• Begin by having the executive branch present their scenario, including their goal and the actions they plan to take in order to accomplish this.

• Repeat this step for the legislative and judicial branches.

Which branch of government is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:• You have 15 minutes to

brain storm how you would prevent the other two branches of government from accomplishing their goals through checking their powers.

• You need to identify at least three specific actions you would take.

Which branch of government is the most powerful?

YOUR TASK:

• As the three branches, you need to explain how you would attempt to prevent the other branches accomplishing their goals.

• Start with the executive branch,.

• Repeat for the legislative and judicial branches.

Which branch of government is the most powerful?

How did the separation of powers and checks and

balances make it difficult for a single branch of government

to abuse its power?

Despite the checks and balances, is there one

branch that is more powerful than the

others?

Is Congress the Broken Branch?

YOUR TASK:

• Working in pairs, one of you will read the article “Is Congress the broken branch?”

• The other will read the article “The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track”

• Highlight and annotate your article to show how your knowledge and understanding both supports and challenges the arguments in the text.

• Use the app “Scannable” to take a photo of both your article and your partners (this app will automatically convert the image to a pdf you can print and add to your folder).

Learning Checkpoint: Contributing to the wider debate

Is Congress the broken branch?

‘Congress has become the least powerful branch of government.’

Discuss. (45)

‘Congress has become the least powerful branch of government.’ Discuss. (45)

Evidence that Congress does not retain its political power includes:

• ability of the president to set the domestic agenda and circumvent Congress through executive orders and recess appointments

• ability of the president to set the tone and direction of foreign policy, and to deploy armed forces without congressional approval

• ability of the Supreme Court to strike down congressional legislation

• complicated legislative process means far more laws are rejected than passed

• parochialism makes Congress often incapable of acting in a coordinated way

• Congress has the lowest public approval ratings of the three branches of government

‘Congress has become the least powerful branch of government.’ Discuss. (45)

Evidence that Congress remains a powerful body includes:

• continued dependence of the president on Congress for all legislation and money

• continued dependence of the president on Congress for all appointment confirmation and treaty ratification

• continued ability of Congress to override presidential vetoes

• sometime willingness of Congress to set the policy agenda, e.g. the ‘Contract with America’

• This is a very typical mid-Level 2 answer. • There are four valid points and some

degree of explanation and development. • On the debit side, there are very few

examples; there is a lack of clarity in places and the candidate wastes time with their introduction and definition of an interest group.

• It was awarded 9 marks.

‘Congress has become the least powerful branch of government.’

Discuss. (45)

YOUR TASK:

• Read the sample answer to this exam question.

• Annotate the answer as a teacher would, for example focusing on accuracy, structure, examples and written expression.

• Use the mark scheme to award a level and a mark.

• Write a brief justification for your mark to this student.

• What were the strengths of this answer?

• How could this answer be improved?

Examiner Advice

YOUR TASK:

• Read the examiner advice for this question.

• Read the sample answer and complete your marks and feedback to this student.

• We will compare your feedback to the feedback from the examiner.

EXAMINER FEEDBACK: “This is another very good answer. The argument is

cogently developed, and there is the sense that the candidate is

in charge of their material throughout. In the section on

the president in particular there is some excellent supporting

detail. If it has a weakness, the treatment of the two branches

is a little unbalanced, and ideally there would be a bit

more on the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, a really good

answer and worth 36 marks.”

Learning Outcomes

• To evaluate the extent to which Congress is still a powerful body

Plenary; Contributing to the wider debate

Is Congress more powerful than the president?

Who is more powerful; Congress or the President? Watch the video clip.

Homework

Application Task:‘Congress has become the least powerful branch of government.’ Discuss. (45)Flipped Learning Preparation Task:Revision in preparation for end of topic testStretch & Challenge TaskAttempt one (or more!?) of the example exam questions….OR examine the SAMPLE ANSWER: To what extent can Congress be considered the “broken branch” of American government?

15 mark questions:

Assess the significance of the

exclusive powers of the Senate.

(15)

To what extent are parties the

most significant influence on

voting in Congress?

Explain the key factors that affect

the relationship between the

Senate and the House of

Representatives.

Why could the Senate be regarded

as superior in status and power to

the House of Representatives?

Does the House of

Representatives carry out its

representative role more

effectively than the Senate?

45 mark questions:

‘Members of Congress are more

concerned with local issues than

with national or international

issues.’ Discuss.

‘Members of Congress are out of

touch with the people who elect

them.’ Discuss.

To what extent does Congress still

have a meaningful foreign policy

role?

To what extent does Congress

remain a powerful body?

The main problem with Congress

is the lack of effective leadership.’

Discuss.