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Rule of Law Versus Abuse of Power
The Constitution and its amendments are documents that seek to protect democracy from the threats that abuse power, prioritize one group above another, or disrupt the balance of power between branches of government â including the removal of checks on the executive branch. In recent history, we have seen examples of countries where representative governments have crumbled, such as in Venezuela and in the Philippines, among others, as legal and political checks on leaders were chipped away, one by one. The drafters of the Constitution predicted this weakness of human nature and structured the Constitution to protect against any person or group taking too much power from the people of the United…
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What Type of Government Is the United States of America?
The U.S. is recognized all over the world for its distinctive form of representative government. When we understand our governmentâs structure under the Constitution, we are empowered to make more informed choices as we strive to elect worthy representatives, advocate for our policy preferences, and protect what we value. President Dallin Oaks has taught that one of the inspired principles of our Constitution is popular sovereignty. In other words, the people hold the ultimate power, not the government. The Constitution begins, âWe the people of the United States . . . do ordain and establish this Constitutionâ in service of the lofty ideals articulated in the preamble. Below, we offer…
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Presidential Pardons: Possibilities, Precedents, and Problems
With presidential pardons in recent news, MWEG offers a Q&A to sort through possibilities, precedents, and potential problems with this presidential power. Q: What are the purposes and types of presidential pardons?A: This power allows a president to forgive criminal offenses through pardons, amnesty, commutation, and reprieve. Informed by the British monarchy, the executive power to pardon was intended to add elements of mercy and clemency to the Constitution. The assumption held that men of virtue would exercise this power for the good of the people and not for their own purposes. Pardons grant the person complete legal forgiveness of a crime, as if it had never happened. Amnesty does…
