What are the three branches of government?
Answer
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches
Explanation
The three branches of government are the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The Constitution creates each in its first three articles. Article I establishes Congress, the legislative branch, made up of the Senate with two senators from each state and the House of Representatives with 435 members apportioned by population. Congress writes federal law, taxes, spends, declares war, raises armies, regulates interstate and foreign commerce, confirms appointments through the Senate, and can impeach and remove executive and judicial officers.
Article II establishes the executive branch headed by the president, currently with a four-year term limited to two terms by the Twenty-Second Amendment ratified in 1951. The president serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, negotiates treaties subject to Senate ratification, nominates federal judges and senior officials, signs or vetoes legislation, and runs the executive departments and federal agencies that employ more than two million civilian workers. The vice president stands first in the line of succession and presides over the Senate, breaking tie votes.
Article III establishes the judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court of the United States and the lower federal courts that Congress creates, currently 13 courts of appeals and 94 district courts plus specialized courts. Federal judges, once nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, serve during good behavior (effectively for life) so that they can decide cases without short-term political pressure. The judiciary decides cases and controversies arising under federal law, the Constitution, treaties, disputes between states, and other categories listed in Article III. Since Marbury v. Madison in 1803, federal courts have exercised judicial review, the power to declare laws and executive actions unconstitutional.
Each branch has unique powers and shared checks on the others. Congress can pass a law, the president can veto it, Congress can override the veto with two-thirds of each chamber, and the Supreme Court can later strike the law down as unconstitutional. The branches were placed in separate buildings around the National Mall to make this structural separation visible: the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court Building each house one branch.
Why this matters for your test
Identifying all three branches lets a citizen understand how a single proposal becomes a binding rule. A president cannot make a statute alone; Congress cannot enforce one alone; courts cannot rewrite one.
The three-branch structure is the answer to almost any practical question about who can do what in the federal government.
Source: USCIS 128 Civics Questions (2025)
