美国宪法所赋予的三权分立｜美国李红律师事务所 Law Offices of Hong Li

概括介绍这一案例：立法部门--国会--通过了2005年的「失窃英勇法」，惩罚那些谎报他们获得了高度军事荣誉的人。

2012年，美国最高法院司法部门裁定该法案违宪，因为它侵犯了受「第一修正案」保护的言论自由权。

行政部门--五角大楼和总统--在最高法院作出决定后一个月内采取了行动，建立了一个由政府资助的国家奖章数据库--分阶段进行--以便核查军事荣誉。

Separation of Powers in Action - U.S. v. Alvarez  The U.S. Constitution establishes three separate but equal branches of government: the legislative branch (makes the law), the executive branch (enforces the law), and the judicial branch (interprets the law). The Framers structured the government in this way to prevent one branch of government from becoming too powerful, and to create a system of checks and balances.

Under this system of checks and balances, there is an interplay of power among the three branches. Each branch has its own authority, but also must depend on the authority of the other branches for the government to function.

U.S. v. Alvarez is an excellent example of how the three branches each exercise their authority.

The Legislative Branch – Congress – passed the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, punishing those who misrepresent that they have received high military honors.                                         

The Judicial Branch – the Supreme Court of the United States – ruled in 2012 (link is external) that the Act was unconstitutional because it infringed on the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment

The Executive Branch – the Pentagon and the President – took action within a month of the Supreme Court's decision establishing a government-funded national database of medal citations – phased in over time – to enable verification of military honors.

美国的三权分立经常被批评为效率低下；当总统和控制国会的反对党意见不同时，两者间的不合作可能会使得立法程序停顿。英国作家贝基哈特在其於1867年出版的书籍《英国宪法》（The English Constitution）里批评了美国的这种制度，并特别提及了詹森任期内的事件。部份人提出美国应实行议会制，可以提高办事效率。议会制的支持者包括了美国总统威尔逊。贝基哈特还将英国议会制与美国的制度作出比较时这样写道：

「       英国宪法，一言以蔽之，是建基在单一最高权力的基础上，并使其行之有效：而美国宪法，则建基於分散最高权力的原则，并希望通由这种繁锁的结构来掩盖其低下性。      」

但是，很多政治学家认为权力分立使美国🇺🇸更卓越！约翰·金敦（John Kingdon）认为，权力分立促进了美国独特的政治结构发展，即美国国内的利益集团参与权力制衡，影响政策制定。三支机构彼此平等却又彼此制衡，从而有效防止任何一机构滥用权力。