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The Federal Government

The Executive

The chief executive of the United States is the President, who, together with the Vice President is elected to a four-year term. A president may be elected to only two terms. The President's powers are extensive but not unlimited. As the chief formulator of national policy, the President proposes legislation to Congress and may veto any bill passed by Congress. The President is also Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

The U.S. presidential election cycle is split into two voting phases. First is the voting for the nomination in primary elections and caucuses, which takes place on different days in different states. Then comes the general election, which takes place on Election Day everywhere in the country. Presidential primary elections or caucuses are held in each U.S. state and territory as part of the nominating process of U.S. presidential elections. Some states only hold primary elections, some only hold caucuses, and others use a combination of both. The primaries and caucuses are staggered between January and June before the general election in November.

The President presides over the executive branch, which includes 15 executive departments, the Executive Office of the President and numerous other independent agencies. The executive branch is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land. The Vice President, department heads (Cabinet members) and heads of independent agencies assist in this capacity. Unlike the powers of the President, their responsibilities are not defined in the Constitution but each has special powers and functions. The heads of the departments, chosen by the President and approved by the Senate, form the President's Cabinet.

The Legislature

The United States Congress comprises 2 chambers – the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 100 members, made up of 2 from each of the 50 states. The Senators are elected for 6 years and, to ensure continuity, elections for one-third of the Senate seats take place every 2 years. The House of Representatives comprises 435 members. Each state is entitled to 1, with the total number of Representatives based on the state's population. Representatives are elected every 2 years.

In addition to the Senators and Representatives, Puerto Rico is represented by a Commissioner, and American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam and the US Virgin Islands by Delegates. Neither the Commissioner nor the Delegates have a vote in the full house but they are able to vote in the Committees to which they have been assigned.

Democrats assumed power in 2007 after a 12-year stretch as the minority party in Congress. The 111th Congress, with heavily Democratic majorities, was sworn in on 6 January 2009. The US congressional elections took place on Tuesday, 4 November 2008. Democrats expanded their control of both chambers of the US Congress, including their biggest Senate majority in three decades. The Democrats took control of both the House and Senate on 7 November 2006 for the first time since 1994.

Republicans recaptured control of the U.S. Senate in the 2014 election and expanded their edge in the House of Representatives, giving them a majority in both houses of Congress for the final two years of President Barack Obama's presidency. Democrats held 55 of the Senate's 100 seats before Tuesday's midterm elections, but Republicans gained at least seven seats. Republicans also added at least 14 seats in the 435-member House, where they already held 233 seats. It was the Republicans' biggest majority since the 1940s. In the 2016 election Republicans won 239 seats in the 435-member House, and 51 of the 100 Senators [a loss of 3 seats].

The Judiciary

The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and the only one specifically created by the constitution. A decision of the Supreme Court cannot be appealed by any other court. It has original jurisdiction in only 2 kinds of cases: those involving foreign dignitaries and those in which a state is a party. All other cases reach the Court on appeal from the lower court. Most of the cases involve interpretation of the law or of the intent of Congress in passing a piece of legislation.

A significant amount of the work of the Supreme Court, however, consists of determining whether legislative or executive acts conform to the Constitution. The Supreme Court consists of 9 justices appointed for life by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. One justice is appointed as the Chief Justice and has additional administrative duties related both to the Supreme Court and to the entire federal court system.