Outgoing president Hoover and Roosevelt on Inauguration Day, 1933

In addition to the broad separation of powers into three branches, the Constitution keeps the executive and legislative branches separate in other ways, using several specific provisions. Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution bans members of Congress from simultaneously serving as officers in the executive branch, and Article I, Section 5 ensures that Congress decides who has won congressional elections and who is qualified to serve there. Also, the two legislative houses decide their own rules and procedures. In Article I, Section 6, the Constitution states that members of the House and Senate can't be arrested or kicked out of office for public statements made in Congress. The only exception is treason--willfully assisting an enemy of the U.S.--or "disorderly conduct." All of these measures were intended to prevent the executive branch from gaining too much influence over domestic policies--by gaining too much power over members of Congress.

The Constitution also protects the executive branch from certain actions by Congress. Article II, Section 1, guarantees that the president receives a salary, but Congress decides how much salary the president receives. However, Congress can't make any changes to the president's salary until after that president leaves office. The Constitution also states that the president can only have one job--that of being President, a provision that is intended to prevent conflicts of interest.

The checks and balances written into the Constitution ultimately create a government of shared powers rather than separated powers. However, the main way that the branches interact is through vetoes and overrides. The Constitution gives the president power to veto bills introduced by Congress, but it also gives Congress a way to override a presidential veto--however difficult that may be to do.

Editorial cartoon showing President Calvin Cooldige carrying the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill in a dust pan out to a trash can as Congress yells from the doorway.

Occasional, an administration will overuse its veto power. For example, by 1943, after nearly twelve years in office, President Roosevelt had used the veto 592 times. As a result, Congressman Sumners from Texas proposed that Congress restrict the president's veto power by requiring a simple majority of congressional votes to override a presidential veto instead of the two-thirds vote that was, and still is, required. However, Sumners' idea didn't attract sufficient interest in Congress at the time because during wartime, the executive branch is almost always more powerful than the other branches due to executive privilege during states of emergency.

Although the president is in charge of directing the military, Congress is responsible for performing oversight. Congress can and does often make sure the president knows that it is Congress's responsibility to declare war. And because Congress controls military spending, they can modify or reject funding requests from the executive branch--a responsibility that usually keeps presidents from making decisions that upset Congress.