5. The American Cabinet

the most important departments
• Department of Defence
Headquarted in Pentagon, one of the world´s largest office buildings, it is responsible for all matters relating to the nation´s military security. It provides the military forces of the US. It is divided into these military departments – the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and National War College.
• Department of Energy
This department was created in the 70s of the 20th century as a result ofgrowing number of energy problems. Tis department is responsible for the research, development, demonstration of energy technology, conservation, use of nuclear energy, regulation of production and use, pricing and allocation of oil, central energy data collection and analysis program. The department of Energy tries to minimize the harmful effects of enrgy production.
• Department of Justice
The Department is headed by the attorney general of the United States, the chief law enforcement of the federal government. Its further departments are Federal bureau of Investigation, Naturalisation Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and it also give aid to local police forces. It is also linked to the INTERPOL.
• Department of State
The eepartment of State advises the president, who was overall responsibility for formulating and executing the foreign policy of the US. The department maintains more than 250 diplomatic and consular posts around the world.
• Department of Treasury
The Department of Treasury is responsible for serving the fiscal and monetary needs of the nation. It performs four basic functions – formulating financial, tax and fiscal policies, serving as a financial agent for the US government, providing special law enforcement services, and manufacturing coins and currency. It regulates the sale of alcohol and tobacco, supervises the printing of stamps, oprates the Secret Service, which protects the presidents and vice president, regulates and taxes the flow of goods into the country.

6. The Reach of the Congress

6.1 Qualification of Members of Congress

The Constitution requieres that US senators must be at least 30 years old, citizens for at least 9 years, and residents of the state from which they are elected. Members of the House of Representatives must be at least 25, citizens for 7 years, and residents of the state from which they are elected. Each state is entitled to two senators. The total number of the House of Representatives has been determined by congress. That number is divided among the states according to their populations (1 – 600 000). State legislatures divide the states into districts, which must be substantially equal in population. Every two years, the voters choose a representative for Congress.
Senators are chosen in statewide elections held in every even – numbered year. Their term is 6 years, and every 2 years one – third of them stands for election.

6.2 Powers of the House and Senate

The Congress is empowered to levy taxes and collect them, borrow money for the public tresury, make rules and regulations governing commerce among the states and with foreign countries, to make uniform rules for naturalisation of immigrants, to coin money, state its value, and provide for the punishment of counterfeithers, to set the standards for weights and measures, to establish bankruptcy laws for country as a whole, to establish post offices and roads, to issue patents and copyrights, to set up a system of federal courts, to punish piracy, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide for a navy, to call out militia to enforce federal laws, supress lawlessness or repeal invasions, to make all laws for the seat of government, to make all laws necessery to enforce the Constitution.

6.3 The Comitee System

The Comitee System began in 1789 when House members found themseves bogged down in endless discussions of proposed new laws.
For each bill – the draft – of a law that comes before Congress – the appropriate comitee is responsible for conducting a throughout investigation of the proposal. The comitee usually conducts hearings to obtain testimony from experts, who can include members of Congress who are not on the comitee, executive branch officials, representatives of private – sector organisations, and individual citizens.
After all the facts are gathered, the comitee decides wheter to report a new bill favorably or with a reccomendation that it be passed with amendmends. Sometiemes the bill will be set aside, or tabled, which effectively ends its consideration. When bills are reported out of comitee and passed by the full House or Senate, however, another comitee goes into actionironimg out any diferences between the House and Senate versions of the same bill. This „conference comitee“ consisting of members of both houses, completes a bill to all membeers satisfaction, then sends it to hte Senate and House floors for final discussion and a vote. If passes, the bill goes to president for his signature.

7. The Judicial Branch

7.1 The Federal Court System

A system of state courts existed before the Constitution was drafted. Article III of the Constitution states the basis for federal court system: „ The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.“ With this guide, the first Congress divided the nation into districts and created federal courts for each district. Congress today retains the power to create and abolish federal courts, as well as to determine the number of judges in the federal judiciary system. Congress can not abolish the Supreme Court.
The power of federal courts extends both to civil actions for damages and other redress, and to criminal cases arising under federal law. Article III has resulted in a complex set of relationships between state nd federal courts. Ordinarily, federal courts do not hear cases arising under the law of individual states. Both court systems have exclusive jurisdiction in some areas and concurrent jurisdiction in others.
The Constitution safeguards judicial independence by providing that federal judges shall hold office „during good behavior“ – until they die. The US judges are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Congress determines the pay scale of judges.

7.2 The Supreme Court

The Supreme court is the highest of the US, and the only one specifically created by the Costitution. A decision of the Supreme Court can not be appealed to any other court. Congress has the power to fix the number of judges sitting on the Court and, within limits, decide what kind of cases it may hear, but it cannot change the powers given to the Supreme Court by the Constitution itself.
The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in only two kinds of cases: those involving foreign dignitarities and those in which a state is a party. All other cases reach the Court on appeal from lower courts. Most of the cases involve the interpretation of the law or the intent of Congress in passing a piece of legislation. A significant work of the Supreme Court consists of determining wheter legislation or executive acts conform to the Constitution. Decision of the Court need not to be unanimous, a simple majority prevails, provided at least six justices – the legal quorum – participate in the decision. In split decisions, the Court usually issues a majority and minority – oppinion both of which may form the basis for future decisions by the Court.

7.3 Court of Appeals and District Courts

The second highest level of the federal judiciary is made up of the courts of appeals, created in 1891 to facilitate the disposition of cases and ease the burden on the Supreme Court. Congress has established 12 regional circuits courts of appeals and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The number of judges sitting on each of these courts varies considerably (6-28), but most circuits have between 10 and 15 judges.
The courts of appeals rewiev decisions of the district courts within their areas. They are also empowered to review orders of the independent regulatory agencies in cases where the internal review mechanism of the agencies have been exhausted and there still exists substantial disagreement over legal points. In addition, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction to hear appeals in specialized cases, such as those involving patent laws and cases decided by the courts of special jurisdiction, the Court of International Trade and the Court of Federal Claims.
Below the courts of appeals are district courts. The 50 states and US teritories are divided into 94 districts so that litigants may have a trial within aeasy reach. Each district court has at least two judges, many have several judges, and the most populous districts have more than two dozen. Depending on case load, a judge from one district may temporarily sit in another district. Congress fixes the boundaries of the districts according to population, size and volume of work. Some of the smaller states constitute a district by themselves, while the larger states, such as New York , california, and Texas, have four districts each.
Except the District of colombia, judges must be residents of the district in which they permanently serve. District courts hold their sessions at periodic intervals in different cities of the cities.
Most cases and controversies heard by these courts involve federal offense such as misuse of the mails, theft of federal property, and violations of pure-food, banking, and counterfeiting laws. These are the only federal courts where „grand“ juries indict those accused of crimes and „petit“ juries decide the cases. Eacg judicial district also includes a US bankruptcy court, because congress has determined that bankruptcy matters should be adressed in federal rather than state courts. Through the bankruptcy process, individuals or businesses that can no longer pay their creditors either may seek a court - supervised liquidation of their assets or may recognize their financial affairs and work out a plan to pay off their debts.