For this week’s memo I want to talk about the separations of powers and checks and balances. To limit the federal government, the Founders divided it into separate branches, known as separations of powers (O. Lenz and Holman, 2018). These were the executive, legislative, and judicial. Each branch of government has powers that belong to it and these powers are denied to the other branches (O. Lenz and Holman, 2018). The executive branch constitutional powers are veto, commander-in-chief, foreign affairs, executive order, and appointment power. The legislative branch constitutional powers are to pass laws, ratify treaties, and pass budgets. The judicial branch constitutional powers are to determine constitutionality of laws. The founders designed each branch so that it would then need the support, or at least consent, of the other branches in order to act, which is referred to as checks and balances.
The title of the article is “Biden Shut the Border to Asylum Seekers. The Question is Whether the Order Can Be Enforced” by Hamed Aleaziz. It’s about an executive order that was signed by President Biden for the United States border with Mexico to shut down nearly all migrants seeking asylum in the United States on June 5, 2024. But many doubts about the success of this executive order rose due to no new resources to help guard the 2.000-mile frontier. The key difference between that legislation and Mr. Biden’s executive order is money. Mr. Biden cannot use his executive authority to send billions of dollars in resources to the border; he needs Congress to do that (Aleaziz, 2024). Assuming the executive order survives legal challenges, which are expected, it could be in effect for months or longer (Aleaziz, 2024).
Judging from these two statements found in the article we can see that even with an executive order signed by the president, it can not be passed until legislation agrees to it or helps. A good example of separations of powers and checks and balances between branches.
Sources
Aleaziz, H. (2024, June 6). Biden shut the border to asylum seekers. the question is whether the order can be enforced. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/us/politics/biden-asylum-seekers-enforcement.html
Lenz, T. O., & Holman, M. (2018). American government – UFDC image array 2.
https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/19/50/00001/9781616102180_Print.pdf
