Ace the Civic Literacy Challenge 2025 – Unlock Your Citizen Superpower!

Checks and balances is a fundamental principle embedded in the United States Constitution that ensures no single branch of government—executive, legislative, or judicial—can dominate the others. This system creates a framework where each branch has specific powers and responsibilities, but also the ability to limit powers of the others. For example, the legislative branch makes laws, but the executive branch has the authority to veto those laws. Additionally, the judicial branch can review the constitutionality of laws. This interconnected system fosters accountability and prevents any one branch from accumulating too much power, promoting a balanced governance structure that protects democratic ideals.

Separation of powers, while related, specifically refers to the division of government roles into the three branches, each with distinct functions rather than the dynamic interrelationships that checks and balances encapsulate. Executive orders pertain to directives issued by the president, which do not address the mechanism of reducing power among branches. Judicial review is the power of courts to assess the legality of legislative and executive actions, but it is one component of the larger system of checks and balances rather than the overarching principle itself.