Which constitutional principle involves distributing governmental power across branches and providing checks and balances?

Which constitutional principle involves distributing governmental power across branches and providing checks and balances?

• A. Popular Sovereignty
• B. Separation of Powers/ Checks and Balances
• C. Federalism
• D. Judicial Review

Answer: (B)

Distributing governmental power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and giving each branch ways to limit the others is the separation of powers with checks and balances. This structure prevents any one branch from dominating by design, since each branch has distinct responsibilities and the ability to restrain the others. That combination—the division of power plus mutual oversight—best matches what the question describes. Other ideas: popular sovereignty centers on the people as the source of government authority; federalism concerns power division between national and state governments; judicial review is the courts’ power to strike down laws. While related to how government operates, none of these describe the specific arrangement where multiple branches share power and continually check each other the way separation of powers with checks and balances does.

Distributing governmental power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches and giving each branch ways to limit the others is the separation of powers with checks and balances. This structure prevents any one branch from dominating by design, since each branch has distinct responsibilities and the ability to restrain the others. That combination—the division of power plus mutual oversight—best matches what the question describes.

Other ideas: popular sovereignty centers on the people as the source of government authority; federalism concerns power division between national and state governments; judicial review is the courts’ power to strike down laws. While related to how government operates, none of these describe the specific arrangement where multiple branches share power and continually check each other the way separation of powers with checks and balances does.