The Decade of the Decline of the Balance of Power Essay

The Decade of the Decline of the Balance of Power - Essay Example It is the democratic situation of the nation that has contributed to this situation as cases like the Executive and the Congress holding different positions such as receiving support from opposing political parties. The privilege doctrine of these branches of the government have proved to be timely and challenging to the judicial branch. Power allocation between coequal and separate government branches has been a major challenge in the last decade in United States. Such power gridlocks have forced the Supreme Court to step in many situations in order to resolve some of the disputes between the different government branches. When it comes to the balance of power between the White house and the Congress, the result is normally a political battle mainly regarding the law thus making such conflicts to spill over to the Supreme Court (Elliot, 2007). The power conflicts among the separate and coequal branches of the government are unavoidable especially in this decade that has been marked by partisan conflicts that have been heightened. The American constitution defines the different powers given to the existing branches of the government but lives some clauses undefined when it comes to the powers dedicated to the government branches thus. This situation is what results to the misunderstandings in the interpretation of the constitution as a means of defining the power balances. For example, the Congress is vested with the power to oversee the activities of the Executive by the constitution in the formulation of its legislation and the appropriation of funds for the executive operations. The imbalance arises when the Executive is also given the power by the same constitution to withhold some of its information regarding its duties as per the constitution. This is because the disclosure of some of the information to the Congress and the entire nation would work against the interests of the nation. However, the constitution still expects the government branches to provide other necessary information without limits. The doctrine of Executive and the Congress are mandated to shield and sought information that are sensitive from disclosure for the sake of the interest of the nation but at the same time making sure that the remainder is disclosed. The consequent of this is that the government branches conflicts force the Supreme Court to reconsider its executive privilege doctrine thus exploring constitutional waters that were unexplored. The last decade has seen a President coming from a party that is different from the party held by the Congress. This scenario has led to unbalanced power between the two resulting to the many conflicts witnessed as a result of the power shifts. The end result is the diminishing of the constitutional concept of the government’s co equal branches (Bickel, 1990). The Suprem e Court is left with the responsibility of resolving such conflicts presented before as stated in the