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Unit 2
25–36% of examThis unit shows how the three branches actually work and push against each other: how Congress passes laws and budgets, how presidents use and stretch their powers, how the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution, and how the federal bureaucracy turns laws into action. It's the most heavily weighted unit on the exam, so it pays to know it well.
Longer videos that cover the whole unit. Good for a first pass or a final review.
Congress is bicameral: the 435-member House represents people by population, and the 100-member Senate gives every state two seats. All House members run every two years, while senators serve six-year terms with a third of them up every two years; together, Congress taxes, spends, borrows, declares war, regulates trade between states, and oversees the executive branch.
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Most work on bills happens in committees, and each chamber has its own rules: in the House, the Speaker and the Rules Committee control debate, while in the Senate one senator can slow a bill with a hold or a filibuster, which usually takes 60 votes (cloture) to end. Congress also has to pass a budget, where growing mandatory spending on programs like Social Security and Medicare leaves less room for discretionary spending.
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How members of Congress vote depends on party, elections, and how they see their job: as a trustee using their own judgment, a delegate following their voters, or a politico mixing both. Polarization and divided government can lead to gridlock, and the way district lines are drawn matters too: Baker v. Carr (1962) let federal courts hear redistricting cases, and Shaw v. Reno (1993) held that districts drawn mainly by race can be challenged under the Equal Protection Clause.
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The president pushes a policy agenda with help from the vice president, the Cabinet, and the Executive Office of the President. Formal powers include vetoing bills and acting as commander in chief, while informal powers include executive agreements, signing statements, and persuading Congress; Congress can override a regular veto with a two-thirds vote in both chambers, but not a pocket veto.
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The Senate must confirm many of the president's picks, including Cabinet members, ambassadors, and federal judges, which can lead to clashes with Congress. Because federal judges serve for life, judicial appointments are often a president's longest-lasting mark, and when Congress resists a president's plans, presidents may turn to executive orders and directions to agencies.
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Presidents have stretched their powers over time, often leaning on arguments like Alexander Hamilton's in Federalist No. 70, which says one energetic executive is needed for national security and steady government. Worry about too much presidential power led to the Twenty-Second Amendment (1951), which limits presidents to two elected terms, and Americans still debate whether presidents should use their powers narrowly or broadly.
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Presidents use the bully pulpit, their ability to grab the nation's attention, to set the agenda and build support for their policies. Each new technology, from radio and television addresses to social media, has let presidents reach the public more directly and respond to events faster.
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Article III of the Constitution sets up the Supreme Court and lets Congress create lower federal courts. In Federalist No. 78, Hamilton argued that the courts are the least dangerous branch and that judges with life tenure can stay independent enough to hold the other branches to the Constitution; in Marbury v. Madison (1803), the Court established judicial review, the power to strike down laws and government actions that conflict with the Constitution.
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Courts usually follow precedent, meaning earlier rulings on similar cases, under a principle called stare decisis ("let the decision stand"). But when new justices shift the Court's ideological balance, the Court may set new precedents or overturn old ones, as when Brown v. Board of Education (1954) rejected the "separate but equal" rule from Plessy v. Ferguson.
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Because federal judges serve for life, justices don't face reelection, so they can make rulings that are unpopular or controversial. That independence is by design, but it also fuels debate over how much power unelected judges should have.
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People disagree about how courts should use judicial review: judicial activism is the view that courts should be willing to strike down laws and overturn precedent, and judicial restraint is the view that courts should defer to elected officials and stick closely to precedent. The other branches can push back on the Court by passing new laws, amending the Constitution, appointing and confirming new judges, delaying how rulings are carried out, or limiting the kinds of cases the Court can hear on appeal.
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The federal bureaucracy is the huge network of Cabinet departments, independent agencies, commissions, and government corporations that carries out laws day to day: agencies write and enforce rules, issue fines, and testify before Congress. Most federal jobs are filled through a merit-based civil service rather than political patronage, and agencies often team up with congressional committees and interest groups in iron triangles and issue networks.
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Congress often writes laws in broad terms and leaves agencies to fill in the details. Using that discretionary and rulemaking authority, agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Securities and Exchange Commission write and enforce detailed regulations.
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Congress keeps watch over agencies through oversight hearings, investigations, and the power of the purse, its control over how much money agencies get. Presidents steer agencies by appointing their leaders and setting priorities, and compliance monitoring checks that money is spent properly and rules are followed.
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Congress, the president, and the courts each have ways to keep the bureaucracy in line, and they don't always agree on what it should do. Because power is split among the branches, people and groups have many places to push for change, but no single branch can make national policy on its own.
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