SUPREME COURT: Outline the checks the Court possesses over the other branches.

This is likely to be a 15 mark question

Of course, the other branches are the executive (the president, the Executive Office of the Presidency and the Federal Bureaucracy) and the legislature (Congress).

The Court had few checks over the other branches, as it is the only unelected body

Over the legislature

1) Judicial review of laws passed by Congress e.g. the Court reviewed whether Obamacare was constitutional in National Federation of Business v Sebelius (2012)


Over the executive 

1) Judicial review of actions e.g. USA V Nixon, during the Watergate scandal.
More recently, Republicans are desperate to take Obama's immigration amnesty to the Supreme Court. They believe his amnesty which would protect over 4 million immigrants from deportation is an overstep of his authority


It is also arguable that the Court has checked the executive by determining campaign finance laws in cases such as Citizens United v FEC (2010) and McCutcheon v FEC (2014). Campaign finance is essential for the election or defeat of a potential president, congressman or Senator. Thus, these rulings have had and will have a notable impact in the other branches