How did the Executive Branch gain so much power?

Question

When I was in school, we were taught that the United States has 3 branches of government - the Executive (president and cabinet) the Judicial (courts) and the Legistlative (Congress) and that all three branches had equal power. Now it seems the Executive has a disproportionate allocation of power. Can anyone tell me how this happened? Thanks!

Answer 1

The Bush administration illegally took it while the incompetent republican controlled congress played the part of the 'three wise monkeys' by pretending to 'see no evil, here no evil and speak of no evil'.

The Bush administration keeps illegally claiming 'executive privilege' whenever they want to hide their criminal acts when the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that it(executive privilege) can only be used in cases where national security is an issue.

Answer 2

Just like others have said the judcial branch really does have the most power because they allow the executive branch to have the type of power they have and unfortuanatly we have had many different federal officials that have taken advntange of this power and have made all three branches unequal and really the only thing we have to blame besides the ignorance and stupidity of osme people is capitalism

Answer 3

Becuase of the fuking President.He is becoming less of a president each day,and more of a dictator.

Remeber when there used to be a little system called "Check and Balances"?and remeber when The Executive Branch,Judical,and Legislative branch,and remember how they used to cancel each other out,and preventing each other from getting too strong?Well,thanks to Mr.Bush,Cheney,and Rice,The Excutive Branch obsorbed the power from the other two,and is now a Mega Branch.Thats how fair our Government has become.

Answer 4

I think the Judicial branch has the most power.  They are defending practices the majority of America wants gone.

Answer 5

The executive branch has been utilizing more of its constitutional power in recent years.  It hasn't gained any, really.

The president alone is quite weak, he can call the country to war, or sign bills into law, but they can't make laws, can't suspend laws, and even concerning military issues, they rely on congress to fund wars.

Answer 6

It doesnt has more power they are still equal.

Answer 7

The Judaical branch trumps the Constitution nowadays.  Thank FDR for that one.

"FDR’s revolutionary New Deal plan encountered two big problems: The Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court. When cases challenging the NIRA and the AAA reached the Supreme Court, it held both laws in violation of the Constitution. During Roosevelt’s first term, the Court ruled that other parts of his radical economic scheme were unconstitutional as well....

Instead, he came up with a shortcut plan designed to circumvent the constitutional-amendment process and the Supreme Court decisions against his New Deal. Sold as a way to help an overburdened nine-member Supreme Court, FDR’s plan requested Congress to permit the president to appoint an additional Supreme Court justice for every justice over 70 years of age, thereby expanding the size of the Court. By enabling him to appoint new justices who were committed to his economic philosophy, Roosevelt figured that the newly aligned Court would start voting in his favor."

Answer 8

It hasn't, it's your imagination, and probably a lot of misinformation.  People (especially on Y!A) seem to think that the President has the power to control the price of oil, and tell oil companies what to do, and interfere with private business, which is all false.

Answer 9

Bush is what happened.  Since he has come into power he has pushed the limits of the powers allocated to him.  He, in fact, has had more influence and power than any other president in history.  But a lot of factors play into the role, high gas prices, the war in Iraq, and blah blah.  They're really just excuses but people buy into it.

Answer 10

It hasn't happened.  The President has no more power today than the President of fifty years ago.