The Constitution created three branches of government to ensure limited government, separation of powers, and checks and balances. This assignment is designed for you to demonstrate your understanding of how the Constitution was written and how that plays out in the real world today.

Step 1: Explain the separation of powers among the three branches of government.

What powers are granted to each branch under the constitution?
How do the branches check and balance each other?

Step 2: Identify a current event or issue from the past 5 years. You might consider looking for major congressional bills/acts where all three branches were involved for these issue areas:

Campaign financing
National security/defense
Education
Immigration
Health care

Step 3: Explain how each branch of government addresses or governs aspects of your selected event or issue. For example, what role does each branch play in health care reform?

Step 4: Discuss how the separation of powers and checks and balances affect this issue.

Would laws be different right now if the structure of government was not set up as is?
How does each branch’s power affect the issue?

Step 5: Cite 4 peer-reviewed, scholarly, or similar references to support your assignment and have a reference list. Do not use Wikipedia, Quora, Yahoo Questions or other crowdsourced websites as references.