Robert W. Peck: The Three Unequal Branches of Government

Robert W. Peck is the chairman of the Constitution Party of Washington. The following was published on his website on April 2nd, 2016:

I expect we’ve all heard the phrase,“three coequal branches” used to describe the composition of our federal system of government. In fact, we’ve probably heard it so many times that we don’t even pay attention, we just accept it as fact and move on. But, is it true? Are the three branches of our federal government really “coequal?”

When that phrase popped up in an article that I was reading a few nights ago, something rose up inside of me and said “no, the three branches are not coequal.” When I found the phrase being used in another article the next day, I started to ponder just how unequal the branches of our federal government really are.

The three branches of our federal system of government are legislative (Congress), executive (President) and judicial (Supreme Court). This is the order in which they appear in the U.S. Constitution, and it is also their ranking in the power structure.

Congress

In Article I, Section 1, we find that “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States.” Judicial activism and executive lust for power not withstanding, the word “all” means “ALL” and leaves no other source of legislative power, that is to say, no other source of power that has the force of law. If Congress does not pass a bill creating a law, or authorizing an expenditure, then the law doesn’t exist; and the money cannot be spent because “all legislative power” is vested in Congress and nowhere else.

Read the rest of the article here.