Court Shorts: Separation of Powers

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Federal judges offer insights into their thinking about the separation of powers and describe how healthy tensions among the branches have a stabilizing effect on democracy. The judges also share their respect for and commitment to this founding principle, which has an impact on everyday American life.

The video is for teens through adults who want to understand current events through the lens of the Constitution’s framework for how Congress, the Presidency, and the Judiciary are designed to relate to each other, particularly when dealing with contentious issues. As the video illustrates, all three branches play a role in preserving constitutional liberties.

To make the point, the judges give an example of how the separation of powers protects First Amendment freedoms to take an unpopular stand and to express views that others don’t share. They reference the flag-burning case Texas v. Johnson and how a law banning flag desecration touched off a controversy that all three branches grappled with in the 1980s.

For many, terms like separation of powers and checks and balances are dusty terms they have forgotten or thought they would never need to know. In fact, according to a 2018 Annenberg survey, only 33 percent of Americans can name all three branches of government (they are legislative, executive, and judicial, as described in Articles I, II, and III of the Constitution).

“All of these parts, working together, create a team effort which really aids our form of government and creates its stability,” says U.S. District Court Judge Ann Montgomery, of the District of Minnesota.

Court Shorts is a video series on courts and the Constitution that will include installments on the rule of law, judicial independence, and other pillars of our democracy.