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CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 3
Checks and Balances
Read the situation. Connect the ideas. Show how you know.
Name ___________________________Class __________ Date __________
01 Recall, then make a connection.
check
advice and consent
impeachment
Use advice and consent and impeachment to explain what makes an institutional action a check. Why is a check a defined procedure rather than permission to stop any disliked decision?
Read the situation.
Checks and balances give institutions specified ways to affect the exercise of power by other institutions. The president may veto a bill; Congress may override through the required vote in each chamber. The president nominates certain officials, and the Senate provides advice and consent. Courts may review constitutional disputes within their authority. Each example has a source, a procedure, and limits. Disagreement alone is not a constitutional power.
02 Organize the information.
Which institution can respond?
Each card describes a constitutional process in simplified form.
Match the response to the institution.
A. PresidentB. Congress through both chambersC. SenateD. Court with appropriate judicial authority
Example
Category letter
1. Veto an ordinary bill presented through the constitutional process.
2. Meet the required votes in both chambers to override a veto.
3. Provide advice and consent on a covered presidential nomination.
4. Resolve a properly presented constitutional challenge through judicial review.
5. Try an impeachment brought by the House.
Explain one placement using a detail from the example.
CLSM · Civic Literacy · Progress Check 3
What does the evidence show?
Checks and Balances
03 Follow the evidence.
Did advice and consent occur?
A fictional claim says the Senate consented to a particular covered nomination.
Select every record needed to verify the claim and identify the same nominee.
The president’s nomination record naming the person and office.
The Senate’s final action record for that nomination.
A press interview in which the nominee says the job would be interesting.
A committee hearing schedule that does not show the Senate’s final action.
Name the useful records and explain how they answer the claim.
04 Apply the idea.
A check can exist without succeeding
Congress attempts to override a fictional veto but falls short in one chamber. A commentator says, “Checks and balances disappeared because the veto remained.”
Which assessment is strongest?
The override mechanism existed and was used, but its required threshold was not met in this case.
Every attempt to use a check must succeed for the Constitution to remain in effect.
A failed override transfers all congressional power permanently to the president.
Choose a conclusion and explain why it fits the situation.
05 Carry the idea forward.
Choose a veto, nomination, or impeachment report and write a corrected explanation. Identify the institutions, the stages, the relevant threshold or final action, and what the available record does not prove.