checks and balances
plural nounDefinition of checks and balances
: a system that allows each branch of a government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent any one branch from exerting too much power
Examples of checks and balances in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our conyepstitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law. — NBC News, "Here's what to expect from Robert Mueller on Wednesday," 22 July 2019 So Trump’s disdain for checks and balances and traditional democratic norms has sullied America’s global reputation and the respect that adversaries pay. — Trudy Rubin, The Mercury News, "Rubin: Joe Biden has advanced the key foreign-policy issue of 2020," 16 July 2019 Oversight—including systems of checks and balances and an active free press—are essential, and this is again true, both in the private and the public sector. — K.n.c., The Economist, "If capitalism is broken, maybe it’s fixable," 8 July 2019 Other countries are deviating from the model of liberal democracy—based on checks and balances and the rule of law—which the EU was supposed to help promote. — Marcus Walker, WSJ, "EU Countries Face a Menu of Challenges," 20 Jan. 2019 The ordinance has established a set of checks and balances, and a demand for accountability from hospitals, said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer. — Cynthia Hubert And Ryan Lillis, sacbee, "LA has cracked down hard on hospitals dumping homeless patients. Is Sacramento next? | The Sacramento Bee," 13 Mar. 2018 Keith Bedford/Bloomberg After the arrest last year of its chairman, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan has made a very public accounting of its management failures, from a lack of strong internal checks and balances to board meetings that lasted only 20 minutes. — Ben Dooley, New York Times, "Nissan Got Rid of Carlos Ghosn. The Way It Did So May Prove Costly.," 26 Aug. 2019 The firm found numerous problems with the town’s practices, from sloppy record keeping to a lack of checks and balances. — Sarah Schweitzer, The Atlantic, "The Lunch Ladies of New Canaan," 15 Aug. 2019 States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process. — Dan Mclaughlin, National Review, "Mitch McConnell Didn’t Stop Obama from Doing Anything about Russia in 2016," 2 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'checks and balances.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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