#checksandbalances — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #checksandbalances, aggregated by home.social.
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Heather Cox Richardson explains how President Trump and his administration are acting like the Constitution doesn't exist. She details how emergency powers, tariffs, and even wars are being used to bypass congressional authority. Discover the full analysis here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-26-2026 #ConstitutionalLaw #ChecksAndBalances #USPolitics
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TIL about Parliamentary powers to Order Documents be produced (OPD) from the govt. The NSW’s Premier doesn’t like it, apparently. There’s a lot he doesn’t like, protests for instance, or transparency, and even free speach. He’s a peculiar one this one. He’d fit in well as a Liberal Premier.
#WestminsterSystem #NSWPol #NSWLabor #ChrisMinns #ODP #ChecksAndBalances #NSWLegislativeCouncil
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Just wanted to say, former #FedChairman #JeromePowell is a hero, and I don't think people appreciate his heroism enough.
The job of the #FederalReserve is to prevent bank-runs, #debt crises, and #inflation, by manipulating the money supply, and it's set up the way it is to ensure it's run by calm hands and not panicky #investors and #politicians with ulterior motives. People genuinely do not realize how much it protects us.
Jerome #Powell protected us from #Trump, under threat of violence and the reality legal attacks that are still attempting to put him in prison. #Trump demanded for years that he lower interest rates so he could have a quarter with more spending, which would've sent the #US #economy into long term #HyperInflation, making food and housing way more unaffordable than they are now, and had global ramifications that would last decades.
He protected us from that.
No matter what other disagreements we have with him, we can say for a fact that Jerome Powell did his duty, for the #American people, under threat. And for that, he will always be a hero.
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Meanwhile, rather than looking at the claims for power availability and sources, not to mention water (see US reports of massive pollution as well as excessive water usage) the UK government is taking the ‘easy way out’ - reducing any safeguards.
We will be left holding the can when these fail as the bubble deflates before finally popping.
#AI #UK #DataCentre #ChecksAndBalances #Labour #Maladministration
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#Africa #democracy #ChecksAndBalances #colonialism #history
"The Buganda Parliament: Africa's 1,000-Year-Old Democracy
Picture this: It's 1890, and a group of British colonial officers stride confidently into what they expect to be another 'primitive' African chieftain's hut. Instead, they find themselves standing before a magnificent parliament building that could house over 1,000 representatives, watching as elected officials debate taxation policy with the sophistication of seasoned European politicians. The twist? This democratic institution had been operating for nearly a millennium—centuries before the British Parliament had wrested power from their own monarchs.
Welcome to the Lukiiko, the parliament of the Buganda Kingdom, where democracy wasn't a European import but a homegrown African innovation that would make modern political scientists weep with envy.
(. . .)
The Birth of African Democracy
Long before the Magna Carta limited the power of English kings in 1215, the Baganda people of present-day Uganda had already cracked the code of balanced governance. The Lukiiko emerged around 1000 AD as more than just a royal advisory council—it was a genuine parliament with teeth sharp enough to bite even kings who overstepped their bounds.
The system centered around the Kabaka (king), but here's where it gets interesting: unlike European absolute monarchs who ruled by divine right, the Kabaka governed through a complex web of checks and balances that would make James Madison proud. The real power broker was the Katikkiro—essentially a prime minister who served as the head of government while the Kabaka remained head of state. Think of it as a constitutional monarchy, but one that evolved naturally over centuries rather than being imposed after bloody revolutions.
What made this system truly remarkable was its representational structure. Every saza (county) in Buganda sent elected representatives to the Lukiiko, creating a genuine voice for communities across the kingdom. These weren't ceremonial positions either—parliament members controlled everything from land distribution to military conscription, wielding power that could make or break royal policies.
Here's where the Buganda system really separates itself from its European contemporaries: women weren't political afterthoughts. The Namasole (Queen Mother) held a position so powerful that she could effectively veto royal decisions and command her own military forces. She wasn't just the king's mother—she was a political powerhouse in her own right, controlling vast territories and wielding influence that extended far beyond the royal court.
But the Queen Mother wasn't alone. Female chiefs, known as Bataka, controlled significant portions of Buganda's territory. These weren't honorary titles handed out to keep women quiet; they were genuine leadership positions with real authority over taxation, justice, and local governance. When European missionaries arrived in the 1870s, they were scandalized to find women making political decisions that affected thousands of people—something virtually unheard of in 'civilized' Victorian society.
The most stunning example? In 1888, when religious wars threatened to tear Buganda apart, it was largely the intervention of powerful women leaders that prevented complete societal collapse. While European women were still fighting for the right to own property, Buganda women were commanding armies and negotiating international treaties.
(. . .)
The British were genuinely confounded. Their entire colonial project was built on the assumption that Africans needed European guidance to develop 'civilized' institutions, yet here was a parliamentary democracy that had been functioning effectively for centuries. Colonial reports from this period reveal a grudging admiration mixed with bewilderment at finding political sophistication where they expected primitive tribalism.
Rather than acknowledge this inconvenient truth, the British chose to co-opt the system. The Uganda Agreement of 1900 nominally preserved the Lukiiko while stripping it of real power, transforming it from a genuine parliament into a colonial administrative tool. It was a masterclass in imperial gaslighting—maintain the form while gutting the function."
https://history-uncovered.com/articles/the-buganda-parliament-africas-1000-year-old-democracy
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#SCOTUS Expands Trump’s #ExecutivePower Over #Immigration
The court handed #Trump victories in his push to rescind #deportation & for hundreds of thousands of people & turn away #immigrants at the southern border.
#law #immigration #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #judiciary #legislation #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny #racism #WhiteSupremacy #WhiteChristianNationalism #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/us/politics/supreme-court-temporary-protected-status.html?unlocked_article_code=1.s1A.fkE6.E-jXQRTpMCY6&smid=nytcore-ios-share -
While the resolution is largely symbolic 😞, & does not fully carry the force of #law 😞😞, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of #Republican lawmakers in both the #House & #Senate over both the #war & the “deal” #Trump struck with #Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.
#law #TrumpsWar #IranWar #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #ChecksAndBalances #US #Constitution #democracy
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🚨🚨🚨Holy hell! I never would have thought that they had it in them!🚨🚨🚨
#Senate for FIRST time approves a #WarPowers resolution in a rebuke to #Trump over #Iran conflict
#law #TrumpsWar #IranWar #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #ChecksAndBalances #US #Constitution #democracy
https://apnews.com/article/senate-iran-war-powers-resolution-trump-7462a9a561103f531d995aac91f9fc96 -
Suspending #HabeasCorpus was one of two radical ideas #StephenMiller had been pushing that alarmed Mr. Scharf. The other was invoking the #InsurrectionAct to deploy the #military to enforce the #law on #US streets as #protests grew against #deportation sweeps.
Scharf wrote confidential memos to Wiles on both topics….
[article is long, but I recommend reading it]
#Trump #law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #ExecutivePower #Constitution #democracy #WhiteSupremacy #immigration
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The man who outlined his concerns in the memo, Mr. Scharf, was no resistance figure. A trim, balding, Harvard-trained lawyer who had run for office in Missouri, he had bemoaned John McCain as too moderate for the 2008 Republican nomination, & believed #Trump had been vindictively prosecuted after his 2020 election loss.
#HabeasCorpus #law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #Constitution #ExecutivePower #democracy #immigration
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Scharf’s memo, in its unassuming way, was a blinking red warning light. The 2nd #Trump White House was deliberating an explosive new claim of #PresidentialPower: the suspension of habeas rights for unauthorized #immigrants.
The suspension of #HabeasCorpus has occurred just a handful of times in US history, & always under the most dire circumstances of #war or #invasion.
#law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #Constitution #democracy #StephenMiller #WhiteSupremacy #immigration
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Dated April 29, 2025, & stamped “confidential,” the memo was careful & lawyerly but amounted to a warning against end-running the rule of #law. The subject line read: “THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.”
#HabeasCorpus — the centuries-old right to force the government to justify, before a judge, why it has locked a person up — is enshrined in Article I of the #Constitution.
#Trump #law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #democracy #StephenMiller #WhiteSupremacy #immigration
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Last spring, Will Scharf, an arch-#conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary, wrote a secret memo to the chief of staff that reflected growing unease in the West Wing about one of the extreme measures being weighed by #StephenMiller, the powerful adviser driving Trump’s #deportation campaign.
#Trump #HabeasCorpus #law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #Constitution #democracy #WhiteSupremacy #immigration
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Frustrated by #Courts, #Trump Weighed Suspending a #ConstitutionalRight
Secret memos show that the White House debated last year, to a greater degree than previously known, whether to limit #HabeasCorpus rights for undocumented #immigrants.
#law #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ChecksAndBalances #Constitution #democracy #StephenMiller #WhiteSupremacy #immigration
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/15/us/politics/trump-scharf-habeas-corpus-insurrection-act.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qVA.lXuS.MD3Zz-LZfw_p&smid=nytcore-ios-share -
About the recent visit of King Charles to the United States: "On his last state visit, Charles was in the shade of Diana’s radiance. On this one, he radiated an élan of his own — a class act, shining next to the boorish Trump":
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/02/opinion/king-charles-america-visit-trump.html
#RoyalVisit #ChecksAndBalances #history -
I see the #ChecksAndBalances of the #USian system are continuing to function as per the purpose of the system.
A #President is an elected #Emperor. Time to grow up, put away your childish things; the sad, obvious King Thirst, and get a proper Westminster-derived parliament.
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The freakin' King of #England has to school #Felon47 & The #GOP on the concept of #ChecksAndBalances. 😞
https://www.ms.now/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/king-charles-schools-trump-on-democracy-in-speech-to-congress-about-checks-and-balances-2498157123575 -
With the growth of AI in the workplace, unions become even more important than they already were. We need tech workers to revolt and setup unions. Its the only way we put these AI tech bros in check. #unionstrong #checksandbalances #tech
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Europe’s Online Age Verification App Is Here
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/europes-online-age-verification-app-is-here/
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Check out my new video and post for #ResistAndHeal:
Webinar with Timothy Snyder: April 30, 2026 (7 min)
https://resistandheal.substack.com/p/webinar-with-timothy-snyder-aprilAlso on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBH6QmSzTT4#democracy #Indivisible #indivisibleCLT #protest #webinar #Constitution #ChecksAndBalances
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The move frees a trial judge to act on the #Trump admin’s pending request to dismiss Bannon’s conviction & indictment “in the interests of justice” [rewriting history].
The dismissal would be largely symbolic. #SteveBannon served a 4-month prison term after a #jury #convicted him of #contempt of #Congress in 2022. A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the conviction.
#SCOTUS #law #SeparationOfPowers #LegislativeBranch #oversight #ChecksAndBalances #SubpoenaPower
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WTAF!?
#SteveBannon wins #SCOTUS order likely to lead to dismissal of his #criminal #conviction for refusing to #Congress.
“Prodded” [instructed] by the #Trump admin, the justices threw out an appellate ruling upholding Bannon’s conviction for defying a #subpoena from the #House committee that investigated the #Jan6, 2021 #insurrection by Trump supporters.
#law #SeparationOfPowers #LegislativeBranch #oversight #ChecksAndBalances #SubpoenaPower
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-capitol-riot-bannon-trump-4a4cf324096fc1bfed204d42b54d191e -
That 2000 deaths are linked to illegal actions by the Australian public service and no referrals for for possible criminal prosecutions result is poison for "social cohesion".
The system that treated thousands of people so badly that they killed themselves - the government had run amok.
This undercuts #RuleOfLaw.
There were no #ChecksAndBalances stopping the illegal actions for years & years.
As deaths mounted.Anthony Albanese needs to address the nation, say what's been changed.
#AusPol -
Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I Say, that Power must never be trusted without a Check.
John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Letter (1816-02-02) to Thomas JeffersonMore about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/34664/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #checksandbalances #conscience #emotion #intellect #power #regulation #restraint #selfdeception #selfdelusion #trust #abuseofpower #powercorrupts #bestintentions #selftrust #selfawareness
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"Everyone before Trump 2.0 accepted two core principles: There is space between the president’s every wish and what the law permits. And, relatedly, executive branch lawyers should not merely rubber stamp presidential initiatives. The Trump administration since January 2025 has rejected this":
https://www.execfunctions.org/p/the-decaying-legal-culture-in-the?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
#RuleOfLaw #ChecksAndBalances copy: @renewedresistance #politics #LawIsBeingCorrupted -
Most of Trump’s #GOP allies condemned the ruling, firmly rejecting the idea of insisting on their own branch of government’s constitutional role. Of the few #Republican senators who cheered it as a triumph for #ChecksAndBalances, some had repeatedly voted against blocking some of the sweeping duties #Trump unilaterally imposed, wary of crossing him. And in the #House, GOP leaders used a procedural move for nearly a year to prevent lawmakers from even having to take such a vote.
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(5/n)
...selbst zersetzendes #Demokratieprojekt immer genannt haben.
Im Gegensatz zu den deutschen Verfassungsvätern auf Schloss #Herrenchiemsee sahen das #US-amerikanische Pendant eine von Mr. President ausgehende Diktatur nicht kommen. Das berühmte System der #ChecksAndBalances wurde binnen eines Jahres, v. a. auch durch die ebenfalls von der #FederalistSociety geplante Übernahme des Obersten #Gerichtshofs (#SCOTUS) der #USA,...
