How do checks and balances work?

#How Congress checks the president

• Money: no federal money can be spent unless Congress appropriates it by law.
• Override: two-thirds of the members voting in each chamber can pass a bill over a veto.
• Senate consent: treaties need two-thirds of the senators present, and top appointments need Senate approval.
• Impeachment: the House can impeach, and two-thirds of the senators present can convict and remove an official.
• Oversight: Congress investigates how laws are carried out, a power the Supreme Court has recognized.

#How the president checks Congress

The president can veto a bill and send it back with objections. A bill the president neither signs nor returns within 10 days, Sundays excepted, becomes law, unless Congress has adjourned and prevented its return. In that case it does not become law, which is called a pocket veto. The president also recommends laws to Congress, can call it into special session and runs the agencies that carry out laws.

#How the courts check both

Federal courts can decide that a law or government action conflicts with the Constitution. The Supreme Court first used this power, called judicial review, against an act of Congress in Marbury v. Madison (1803). Courts can use it only in cases brought to them, and only within the jurisdiction the Constitution and Congress give them.

#Checks on the courts

The president nominates federal judges, and the Senate decides whether to confirm them. Congress creates the lower federal courts and can make exceptions to the Supreme Court’s power to hear appeals. Judges serve during good behavior and can be removed only by impeachment and conviction. A ruling based on the Constitution can also be changed by amending the Constitution.

#Why decisions take several steps

Because power is split, most major decisions need more than one branch to agree. A law needs both chambers and the president’s signature, or a veto override. Spending needs an appropriation. A federal judge needs a nomination and Senate confirmation. Each step can stop the decision, and on a veto override, every member’s vote is recorded by name.