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Running Head: BRANCHES OF THE GOVERNMENT 1

BRANCHES OF THE GOVERNMENT 5

Branches of the Government

Student’s Name

University Affiliation

Branches of the Government

1. Branches of Government:(pick one: Executive, Legislative, or Judicial).

The branch of government that we have picked for this assignment is the judicial branch. The judicial branch of the government is one that comprises of the system of courts with its major responsibility being the interpretation and the enforcement of constitution. This arm of the government helps to solve disputes that may arise by making use of the rules that are provided by the constitution of a country.

One strength of one of the three branches of government.

The strength that we are going to look at is the fact that the judicial branch Ii most countries are considered as being independent. The fact that this arm is considered as being independent of the other arms and parties in government helps to make sure that they carry out their functions fairly as well as impartially and ensuring that the system of courts operates in a manner that guarantees constitutionalism(Hall & McGuire, 2005). The independence helps to ensure that law is practiced properly and that democracy prevails in a country.

It is important to understand that by saying that this arm is independent, we do not mean that they have the freedom and autonomy to make their decisions on their terms and preferences. However what this means is that they are governed by law, but they are free to make their decisions in the cases presented to them provided that these decisions comply with the law of the country. Independence means that they do not suffer the pressure of taking the opinions of the other parties of the government or the parties that are involved in a case when making their decisions. In general, they are free from pressures from politics and therefore making sure that legal protection is offered to all individuals of a country.

It is also this independence that grants them the power to look at various public laws that are made by the other arms of the government and reject them or refuse to enforce them if they go against the provisions of the constitution of the country. By so doing they play a major role in ensuring that the arms of government are kept in check and help make sure that greed and abuse of power by individuals in government. It also helps to protect the people of a country by ensuring that laws that are against the constitution are not enforced in the country. In general, the independence of this arm helps to ensure that there are no political pressures that sabotage the performance of law in a country.

One weakness of one of the three branches of government.

One of the main weaknesses that this arm of the government faces is the fact that they have very limited powers as compared to the other two arms of the constitution. The judiciary more often than not is referred to as the third arm of the government or the weakest arm of the government and this is mainly because they do not have the real power to influence the central government of a country. In most cases, the judiciary usually comes as the third wheel in the government. For example, it always comes last during American tri-partite system and also in the constitution where article III which governs the owners of the arm were written last, very precisely and also looked as if the provisions were just afterthoughts. It can also be greatly noted that the Constitution only provides for the creation of the Supreme Court and this means that the Congress has the power to create other small courts, dismiss them or even send them to Guam (Beier, 2004).depending on their personal preferences and how they see fit.

One option to maintain the strength of the branch of government discussed above

Independence of the judiciary system is very important for any country especially because most countries are usually governed by a constitution that is very limited. To be able to maintain the independence of the judicial branch, it is important that more protection is offered to the professionals working in this area such as the judges. This is because most of the times the judiciary may not be able to independently carry out their roles due to the fact that they lack powers and have very little protection which creates fear in ignoring political; pressures and exercising the law as it is. However, if the constitution through Article III which is responsible for the governance of the judiciary arm provides more protection and safeguards their welfare, then they can be able to embrace and practice their independence to the fullest. The protection can be offered in the form of job securities guaranteed by the constitution. This helps to make sure that they can make independent decisions without being intimidated by individuals in higher authorities.

One option to correct the weakness of the branch of government discussed above.

To correct that fact that the judicial branch has very limited powers, I would propose for the enhancement of the independence of branch. This is because when the branch is fully or almost fully independent, they can be able to draw more powers from their roles. Independence should be enhanced by making sure that the other two arms of the government have very minimum control over the running of the arm for example the creation and the dissolution of the courts since the more the control there is from the other arms, the more the political pressures on the arm and consequently the lesser the independence that is granted to the judicial system (Zelden, 2007). The lesser the control, the more the independence and consequently more power since the arm can freely carry out their roles of enhancing fair enforcement and interpretation of law.

Reference List

Beier, A. (2004). The Supreme Court and the judicial branch. New York: Rosen Pub. Group.

Firestone, M. (2000). The State judicial branch. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press.

Hall, K. & McGuire, K. (2005). The judicial branch. Oxford England New York Radner, PA: Oxford University Press Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands.

Hargrove, J. & Smith, B. (2000). Judicial branch of the government. Carthage, Ill: Teaching & Learning Co.

Hogan, S. (2006). The judicial branch of state government : people, process, and politics. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

Kowalski, K. (2012). Judges and courts : a look at the judicial branch. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications.

Tobin, R. (2004). Creating the judicial branch : the unfinished reform. New York: Authors Choice Press.

Zelden, C. (2007). The judicial branch of federal government : people, process, and politics. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.