The Legislative Branch

The legislative branch - the Congress - is made up of elected representatives from each of the 50 states.  The Constitution sets up a bi-cameral body known as the U.S. Congress to raise and to spend national revenue and to draft laws. It is the only branch of U.S. government that can make federal laws, declare war and put foreign treaties into effect.

Members of the House of Representatives are elected to two year terms.  Each member represents a district in his or her home state.  The number of districts is determined by the census, which is conducted every 10 years.  Senators are elected to six year terms, staggered so that one third of the Senate stands for election every two years.  The Constitution provides that the vice-president shall be president of the Senate. He or she has no vote, except in the case of a tie.

The Senate chooses a president pro tempore to preside when the vice-president is absent. The House of  Representatives chooses its own presiding officer -- the speaker of the House. The speaker (Nancy Pelosi, D-CA) and the president pro tempore (Senator Robert C. Byrd, D -WV) are members of the political party with the largest representation in each house. 

To become a law, a bill must pass both the House and the Senate.  After the bill is introduced in either body, it is studied by one or more committees, amended, voted out of committee, and discussed in the chamber of the House or Senate.  If passed by one body, it goes to the other for consideration.  Once both bodies have passed the the same version of a bill, it goes to the president for approval. 

The Judicial Branch

The judicial branch is headed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which is the only court specifically created by the Constitution.  In addition, Congress has established 13 federal courts of appeals and 95 federal district courts. The president has the authority to appoint federal judges as vacancies occur, including justices of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court meets in Washington, D.C., and the other federal courts are located in cities throughout the United States. 

The federal courts hear cases arising out of the Constitution, federal laws and treaties and maritime cases; cases involving foreign citizens or governments; and cases, in which the federal government is itself a party.  With minor exceptions, cases come to the Supreme Court on appeal from lower courts.  Most of these cases involve disputes over the interpretation and constitutionality of actions taken by the executive branch and of laws passed by Congress or the states.

State Government

Like the national government, state governments have three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial; these are roughly equivalent in function and scope to their national counterparts. The chief executive of a state is the governor, elected by popular vote, typically for a four-year term (although in a few states the term is two years). Except for Nebraska, which has a single legislative body, all states have a bicameral legislature, with the upper house usually called the Senate and the lower house called the House of Representatives, the House of Delegates, or the General Assembly. In general, matters which lie entirely within state borders are the concern of state governments. These include internal communications; regulations relating to property, industry, business and public utilities; the state criminal code; and working conditions within the state. Within this context, the federal government requires that state governments not adopt laws which contradict or violate the Constitution or laws and treaties of the United States. Any developing programs are now often developed on a cooperative basis between the two levels of government.