3.3: The Roles of the Congress, the President, and the Courts
- Page ID
- 127398
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FOCUS QUESTION: What are the roles of Congress, the President, and the courts in the United States government?

3.3.1 INVESTIGATE: The Executive Branch and the President

The 2021 Inauguration Choice Board (click here to make your own copy of the choice board)

The President is responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws passed by Congress, or if so decided, vetoing laws passed by Congress. The President is also responsible for handling affairs with foreign nations and issuing State of the Union addresses, which are typically done in front of a joint-meeting of Congress in January.
- President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
- President Grant signing the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 & 1875
- President Truman desegregating the military (1948)
- President Eisenhower signing an order allowing Black students to attend an all-White high school in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957)
- President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Presidency in US History and Politics Choice Board (click here to make your own copy of the choice board)

Online Resources for the President and the Executive Branch
- Understanding the President's Job, EDSITEment!
- "What Makes a Good President?", a series of essays from PBS Frontline (2004)
- Presidential Speech Archive featuring text and video of important speeches by every American President, from the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
- Presidential Recordings Program - Secret White House Tapes contains more than 2500 hours of White House recordings of conversations and meetings by Presidents from 1940 to 1973.
- Inaugural Words: 1789 to the Present, each Presidential Inaugural Address presented as word clouds by the New York Times.
- Voices, Votes, Victory: Presidential Campaign Songs, Library of Congress
3.3.1.1 UNCOVER: The FBI and the Post Office in American Politics
The Post Office in American Politics


- For much of the 20th century, the Post Office was the largest employer of Black workers, although those individuals were confined to low-wage jobs, often in racially segregated workplaces (African American Postal Workers in the 20th Century). Today, African-Americans make up 20% of postal employees nationwide, but the majority of workers in many urban centers (U.S. Post Office cuts threaten source of black jobs).
- Beginning in the 1930s, Victor H. Green, a Black New Jersey postal worker, developed the "Negro Motorist Green Book," a guide used by African-Americans traveling through racially segregated United States during the mid-twentieth century.
- Critics, including the Trump Administration, regard the Post Office as a failing organization that should be privatized and subject to direct competition in a mail and packaging delivery marketplace. In this view to save money, many Post Office locations should be closed, employees should pay more of their healthcare costs, and collective bargaining for workers should be ended (Privatizing the Post Office).
- Use this Table of Proposals to discuss the pros and cons of each proposal to save the Post Office.
- With your partner or partners, create your own proposal, add it to the document and list the pros and cons.
- Be prepared to justify your rankings with a detailed explanation.
3.3.1.2 ENGAGE: Can a Woman Be Elected President of the United States?
- Jeannette Rankin from Montana, an outspoken women's rights activist and pacifist who was the only member to vote against American entry into World War I, was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1916.
- Hattie Wyatt Caraway from Arkansas was the first woman elected to the Senate in 1932.
- Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968.
- The 2020 election saw a record number of women (35) from the Republican Party elected to the House of Representatives; in 2018 there were 22 Republican women in the House (How a Record Number of Republican Women Will--and Won't--Change Congress, FiveThirtyEight, November 16, 2020).
A Woman President

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson

- Women in State Legislatures for 2019
- When Women Run. 97 women from all 50 states describe in their own words what it is like to try and win an election as a woman.
- A First: Women Take the Majority in Nevada Legislature and Colorado House, NPR (February 4, 2019)
- Women Make Up 24% of Members of National Legislatures Around the World, Pew Research Center (March 18, 2019)
- Women Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University
- A New Poll Shows How Sexism and Electability Collide in 2020, Vox (June 17, 2019)
- A Woman Can Be Elected President, Right? Democracy, A Journal of Ideas
3.3.2 INVESTIGATE: The Legislative Branch - the House of Representatives and the Senate

The Senate
Unequal Power
Now, in the 21st century, the Senate "entrenches multiple types of inequality," contends political scientist Todd Tucker (2019, p. 4).
- In 2021, 15 states with 38 million people elected 30 Senators (all Republicans) while California with 40 million people elected 2 Senators, both of whom are Democrats (Berman, 2021).
- People living in Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the other U.S. territories have no voting representation in the Senate.
- The Senate is disproportionately richer, whiter, and more male than the population of the country as a whole.
- Only 11 Black Senators have served in the Senate since 1789. Hiram Revels (Mississippi) was the first in 1870; Edward Brooke (Massachusetts) was the first to be popularly elected (1967); Raphael Warnock (Georgia) was the most recent in 2021.
- Pick a legal or public policy issue. Compete with classmates for who can talk the longest about it as an homework exercise, with an adult witness (e.g., parent, guardian, neighbor) to verify the length.
- Debate or create a Public Service Announcement about whether the filibuster should be eliminated.
House of Representatives

Congressional Committees and Caucuses
Women of Color in Congress
The Congress in U.S. Government Choice Board (click here to make your own copy of the choice board)

Online Resources for the Legislative Branch
- Legislative Branch, U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
- Every Member of Congress' Wealth in One Chart, Roll Call (March 2, 2018)
3.3.2.1 UNCOVER: Electing LGBTQIA Legislators

Online Resources for LGBTQIA Politicians
- resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki page for the LGBTQIA Civil Rights Movement
3.3.3 INVESTIGATE: The Federal Judicial Branch, the Supreme Court, and State Courts
The Federal Judicial Branch

The Supreme Court
Within the evolving system of American Government, the Supreme Court has achieved a position of judicial supremacy, meaning the law is whatever the Court says it is (Whittington, 2007). In recent decades, noted David Leonhart (2020) in the New York Times, the Court has intervened in the 2000 election (upsetting liberal and progressive groups), legalized same-sex marriage (upsetting conservative and religious groups), and is continuing to take an activist stance toward overturning laws. Groups from both sides of the political spectrum see the Court as a vehicle for ensuring their policies are maintained, a role the Court has not played throughout United States history.

State Courts and Racial Disparities
Online Resources for the Judicial Branch
- WIKI Page: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Notorious RBG
- Learning Plan: Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!: Simulating the Supreme Court, EDSITEment
- The Supreme Court's Big Rulings Were Surprisingly Mainstream This Year, FiveThirtyEight (July 13, 2020)
3.3.3.1 ENGAGE: What Supreme Court Cases Should All Teenagers Know?

- We the Students: Supreme Court Cases For and About Students by Jamin B. Raskin (2015) is an excellent source of information.
- The North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District in Minnesota has a list of 10 Supreme Court cases every student should know. Included on that list is Tinker v. Des Moines, which we discuss in Topic 5 of this book.
Student Legal Rights in School Choice Board (click here to make your own copy of the choice board)
