Has the executive branch stepped over its constitutional authority in order to guarantee our personal safety?

Essay by murfjrHigh School, 11th gradeA, June 2006

download word file, 3 pages 0.0

The Executive Branch has not stepped over its constitutional authority in order to guarantee our personal safety. Most people that are whining about President Bush and other members of the Executive Branch going to far have not really thought about how things would change if the branch wasn't allowed to do certain things. President Bush has signed documents that invade privacy, and other rights, but they are only meant for the good of the people of the United States. People also say this branch has too much power, and that more of it should be distributed to the Legislative Branch. The President of the United States is also the Commander in Chief, therefore he controls our country's military but cannot declare war without the approval of congress. The Executive Branch has not come close to stepping outside its boundaries.

The president has signed documents that let the government officials invade people's privacy, but not for any old reasons.

They mainly use these privileges to gather DNA from terrorists in order to convict them or try them in courts (Finn). Under the fourth amendment of the Bill of Rights, the people are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures, but I'm sure most true Americans would say that these DNA tests and various other searches of suspected terrorists are not unreasonable. That actually brings up another one of these situations. The president recently signed an order saying that suspected terrorists can be tried in US Military Courts (Milbank A1). This relates to the Revolutionary War in the fact that King George III ruled that the British should be brought back to Britain to be tried, because they thought that American courts would favor the colonists. In a recent poll, 55% of Americans will sacrifice some of their freedom to prevent future terrorist...