Congress Is Not a Coequal Branch of Government — It’s Supreme

Our country has forgotten aspects of republicanism, especially the notion of self-government.

When Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as speaker of the House earlier this month, she promised the American people renewed congressional vigor. Congress, she solemnly declared, is “coequal to the presidency and judiciary,” and House Democrats would act accordingly. Democratic partisans masquerading as public intellectuals have similarly rediscovered the virtues of legislative power, touting the importance of Congress as a coequal branch of government.

The problem with this? Congress is not coequal. It is superior. The notion of coequality of the branches is a myth that has been popularized over the past half century, during the rise of the imperial presidency, as a way to boost the executive’s standing in the eyes of the public.

There are three main reasons that Congress is supreme. First, Congress can get itself involved in the actions of the other branches. It can override presidential vetoes. It can deny appointments to the executive and judicial branches. It can impeach officers of the executive and judicial branches. It can set legislative and judicial pay. It also has wide discretion in determining the size and shape of the executive and judicial branches. Every executive department and indeed every officer except the president and vice president are creations of Congress. And Congress also has total authority to design the court system as it sees fit. While there are aspects of foreign affairs it cannot attend to, it can basically govern the domestic affairs of the country by itself. Indeed, it actually did this during the period 1867–69, when Radical Republicans in Congress acquired a veto-proof majority over President Andrew Johnson. The main domestic power that Congress cannot exercise by itself is amending the Constitution — for that, it needs the assent of the state legislatures.

Second, the other branches are largely incapable of interfering with Congress. Members of Congress are immune from arrest when they are conducting legislative business. They set their own pay. Each chamber determines its own rules. Each branch also decides who does and who does not get to sit as a member. And no member is allowed to take a job in the executive department while serving in Congress. The Founders were so serious about this that they established a capital city apart from the states, and under the jurisdiction of Congress, to make sure that some local potentate could not use geography to boss the legislature around.