THE SYSTEM OF checks and balances among government branches has successfully fulfilled the goal of America's founders in that it keeps each branch from becoming too powerful. However, this arrangement also has its drawbacks. By its very nature, the concept of separate and opposing powers is a blueprint for disagreement and confrontation. And the three branches have indeed battled often for supremacy on one issue or another. The relationship between the legislative and executive branches has been especially turbulent. As political scholar George B. Galloway puts it:

Historically ... Congress and the President were cast for opposite roles. Not only do they have distinct functions to perform, but they operate at opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue [in Washington, D.C.] and seldom come face to face... . This functional and physical separation ... has caused rivalry, suspicion...