The Senate is given important powers under the "advice and consent" provisions (Article II, section 2) of the Constitution: ratification of treaties requires a two-thirds majority of all senators present and a simple majority for approval of important public appointments, such as those of Cabinet members, ambassadors, and judges of the Supreme Court. The Senate also adjudicates impeachment proceedings initiated in the House of Representatives, a two-thirds majority being necessary for conviction.
As in the House of Representatives, political parties and the committee system dominate procedure and organization. Each party elects a leader, generally a senator of considerable influence in his own right, to coordinate Senate activities. The Senate leaders also play an important role in appointing members of their party to the Senate committees, which consider and process legislation and exercise general control over government agencies and departments. Sixteen standing committees are grouped mainly around major policy areas, each having staffs, budgets, and various subcommittees. Among important standing committees are those on appropriations, finance, government operations, and foreign relations. At "mark-up" sessions, which may be open or closed, the final language for a law is considered. Select and special committees are also created to make studies or to conduct investigations and report to the Senate--for example, the Select Committee on Ethics and the Special Committee on Aging.
The smaller membership of the Senate permits more extended debate than is common in the House of Representatives. To check a filibuster--endless debate obstructing legislative action--three-fifths of the membership must vote for cloture; if the legislation under debate would change the Senate's standing rules, cloture may be invoked only on a vote of two-thirds of those present. There is a less-elaborate structure of party control in the Senate; the position taken by influential senators may be more significant than the position (if any) taken by the party.
The constitutional provisions regarding qualifications for membership of the Senate specify a minimum age of 30, citizenship of the United States for nine years, and residence in the state from which elected.
House of Representatives
Representatives, House of, one of the two houses of the U.S. Congress, established in 1789 by the Constitution.
The first Congress had 59 members in the House; membership reached 435 in 1912. Two additional representatives were added after the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959, but at the next reapportionment membership returned to 435, the number authorized by a law enacted in 1941. The allocation of seats is based on population within the states; membership is reapportioned every 10 years, following the decennial census. House members are elected every two years from one-member districts of approximately equal population created for this purpose.
The House of Representatives shares with the Senate equal responsibility for lawmaking within the United States. As conceived by the Founding Fathers, the House was to represent the popular will, and its members were to be directly elected by the people, rather than indirectly, as originally provided for the Senate.
The Constitution vests certain exclusive powers in the House of Representatives, among the most important of which are the right to initiate impeachment proceedings and the right to originate revenue bills.
The organization and character of the House of Representatives have evolved under the influence of political parties, which provide a means of controlling proceedings and mobilizing the necessary majorities. Party leaders, such as the speaker and the majority and minority leaders, came to play a central role in the operations of the House. Party discipline is not always strong, however, in a body whose members stand for reelection every two years and who tend to look toward their districts rather than to parties for support.
A further dominating element of House organization is the committee system, under which the membership is broken up into smaller groups for such purposes as selecting agenda, preparing bills for the consideration of the whole House, and regulating House procedure. Each committee is controlled by the majority party. Almost all bills are first referred to a committee; the House ordinarily cannot act on a bill until the committee has "reported" it for floor action. There are more than 20 standing committees, organized mainly around major policy areas, each one having staffs, budgets, and subcommittees. They may hold hearings on questions of public interest, propose legislation that has not been formally introduced as a bill or resolution, and conduct investigations. Among important standing committees are those on appropriations, on ways and means, and on rules. Select and special committees are also appointed, usually for a specific project and for a limited period.
The committees also play an important role in the control exercised by Congress over governmental agencies. Departmental heads and other responsible officials are frequently summoned before the committees to explain policy. The Constitution (Article I, section 6) prohibits members of Congress from holding offices in the executive branch of government--a chief distinction between parliamentary and congressional forms of government.
One important result of population changes in the United States in the decade 1970-80 was the gain under reapportionment of 17 congressional seats in states of the South and West; states of the Northeast lost 9 and those of the North Central region 8. For the first time in the 20th century, the majority in the House of Representatives was not based in the traditional North.
The constitutional provisions regarding eligibility for membership of the House of Representatives specify a minimum age of 25, U.S. citizenship for at least seven years, and residence within the state from which a member is elected.
Library of Congress
The U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., is probably the largest national library, and its collection of modern books is particularly extensive. It was founded in 1800 but lost many books by fire during a bombardment of the Capitol by British troops in 1814. These losses were to some extent made good by the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's library shortly thereafter. The library remained a strictly congressional library for many years, but, as the collections were notably enlarged by purchases and by additions under the copyright acts, the library became and remained--in effect, although not in law--the national library of the United States. The public has access to many of the collections.
Supreme Court of the United States
Final court of appeal and final expositor of the U.S. Constitution. Within the framework of litigation, the Supreme Court marks the boundaries of authority between state and nation, state and state, and government and citizen.
The court was instituted by the Constitution of 1787 as the head of a federal court system with the authority to act in cases arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States; in controversies to which the United States is a party; in controversies between states or between citizens of different states; in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and in cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls.
The size of the court is set by Congress; it varied during the 19th century from 6 to 10 members before stabilizing in 1869 at 9. Appointments to the Supreme Court and to the lower federal courts are made by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. Tenure is during good behaviour, subject to expulsion by conviction on impeachment. Only one justice has been impeached, Samuel Chase, who was acquitted in 1805. In 1969 one, Abe Fortas, was forced to resign, however, because of his outside financial dealings.
In maintaining the constitutional order, the Supreme Court from an early date has exercised the power of declaring acts of Congress or of the state legislatures unconstitutional. Such power of judicial review, however, is not expressly conferred by the Constitution (see judicial review). Executive, administrative, and judicial actions are also subject to review by the Supreme Court. Relatively few cases are brought in the original jurisdiction of the court. The great bulk of the court's business comes to it in its appellate jurisdiction. Depending on the nature of the decision in the state or lower federal court, the route to the Supreme Court is by appeal or certiorari. The difference between the two is that an appeal obliges the court to review the case, whereas a review under certiorari is discretionary.
The development of this bifurcated jurisdiction reflects a response by Congress to a long struggle by the court to cope with the volume of cases annually docketed. In 1891 a measure of relief was afforded by the Circuit Court of Appeals Act, which set up intermediate courts with final authority over appeals from federal district courts, save in cases of exceptional public importance. The Judge's Act (Feb. 13, 1925), sponsored by the court itself, carried the reforms further and greatly limited the obligatory jurisdiction, giving the court a large measure of control over its business by placing most classes of cases under certiorari.
Any assessment of the unifying forces in U.S. society must ascribe an important role to the Supreme Court. The chief technical instrument employed by the court has been the commerce clause of the Constitution, applied to nullify state laws of taxation or regulation that discriminate against or unduly burden interstate commerce; the clause has also been used to uphold the power of Congress to regulate vast sectors of the economy.
While the commerce clause has been the chief doctrinal source of power over the economy, the due process and equal protection clauses have been the principal sources of protection of persons and corporations against arbitrary or repressive acts of government. These clauses were used at first to protect property rights, but by the 20th century they began to be applied to the area of civil liberties, particularly in the extension of Bill of Rights guarantees to state actions. By the mid-20th century the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which had been designed for the benefit of emancipated blacks, began to serve its historic purpose as a barrier to racially discriminatory laws.
The opinions of the court have often been the epitome of reasoned elaboration. In conjunction with its long tradition of dissent, it serves to clarify, refine, and test the philosophic ideals written into the Constitution and translate them into working principles for a federal union under law. Beyond its specific contributions, this symbolic and pragmatic function may be regarded as the most significant role of the court in the life of the nation.
Acheson, Patricia C. Our Federal Government: How It Works. Dodd, 4th ed., 1984.
Burns, James MacGregor and others. Government by the People. Prentice, 13th ed., 1987.
Prewitt, Kenneth and Verba, Sidney. An Introduction to American Government. Harper, 5th ed., 1986.
Prewitt, Kenneth and Verba, Sidney. USA Government. Harper, 6th ed., 1989.