Government of Alstin

The federal government of the United Republic (U.R. federal government or U.R. government) is the common government of the United Republic of Alstin, a federal republic in Crona, composed of 27 provinces, a city within a federal district (Alstin, where most of the federal government is based), ten major self-governing territories and several overseas possessions. The federal government, sometimes simply referred to as Alstin, is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.R. Constitution in the Parliament, the President and the federal courts, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Parliamnent, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.

Naming
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History
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Legislative
Main article: United Republic Parliament

Under Article I of the Constitution, the United Republic Parliament is the legislative branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, with the National Council and the Senate comprising the lower and upper houses respectively.

National Council
The Council currently consists of 467 voting members, each of whom represents a parliamentary district. The number of Councilors each province and the Capital District has in the Council is based on each province's population as determined in the most recent United Republic Census. All 467 Councilors serve a two-year term. Each province receives a minimum of one representative in the Council. In order to be elected as a Councilor, an individual must be at least 21 years of age, must have been a U.R. citizen for at least seven years, and must live in the parliamentary district in the province that they represent. There is no limit on the number of terms a Councilor may serve. In addition to the 467 voting members, there are 10 non-voting members, consisting of 10 delegates each from one of the territories.

Senate
In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each province, regardless of population. There are currently 62 senators (2 from each of the 30 provinces and the Capital District), who each serve six-year terms. Approximately one-third of the Senate stands for election every two years. In order to be elected as a Senator, an individual must be at least 25 years of age, must have been a U.R. citizen for at least nine years, and must live in the province that they represent.

Different Powers
The Council and Senate each have particular exclusive powers. For example, the Senate must approve (give "advice and consent" to) many important presidential appointments, including cabinet officers, federal judges (including nominees to the Supreme Court), executive ministers (heads of federal executive ministries), U.R. military and naval officers, and ambassadors to foreign countries. All legislative bills for raising revenue must originate in the National Council. The approval of both chambers is required to pass all legislation, which then may only become law by being signed by the president (or, if the president vetoes the bill, both houses of Parliament then re-pass the bill, but by a two-thirds majority of each chamber, in which case the bill becomes law without the president's signature). The powers of Parliament are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the "Necessary and Proper Clause", which grants Parliament the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers".

Impeachment
Parliament has the power to remove the president, federal judges, and other federal officers from office. The National Council and Senate have separate roles in this process. The Council must first vote to "impeach" the official. Then, a trial is held in the Senate to decide whether the official should be removed from office. As of 2029, only four Presidents have been impeached by the National Council; Only one was removed from office following a Senatorial trial.

Parliamentary procedures
Article I, Section 2, paragraph 2 of the Constitution gives each chamber the power to "determine the rules of its proceedings". From this provision were created parliamentary committees, which do the work of drafting legislation and conducting congressional investigations into national matters. Additionally, each house may name special, or select, committees to study specific problems. Today, much of the parliamentary workload is borne by the subcommittees, of which there are around 160.

Powers of Parliament
The Constitution grants numerous powers to Parliament; These include the power to:
 * Levy and collect taxes;
 * Coin money and regulate its value;
 * Provide for punishment for counterfeiting;
 * Establish post offices and roads,
 * Issue patents,
 * Create federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court,
 * Combat piracy and felonies,
 * Declare war,
 * Raise, support, provide and maintain a standing Army and Navy,
 * Make rules for the regulation of land and naval forces,
 * Provide for, arm and discipline militia units,
 * Regulate inter-provincial commerce, and;
 * Make laws necessary to properly execute powers.

Over the course of three centuries since the United Republic was established, many disputes have arisen over the limits on the powers of the federal government. These disputes have often been the subject of lawsuits that have ultimately been decided by the Supreme Court of the United Republic.

Parliamentary Oversight
Parliamentary oversight is intended to prevent waste and fraud, protect civil liberties and individual rights, ensure executive compliance with the law, gather information for making laws and educating the public, and evaluate executive performance; Such oversight applies to cabinet ministries, executive agencies, regulatory commissions, and the presidency.

Congress's oversight function takes many forms:


 * Committee inquiries and hearings
 * Formal consultations with and reports from the president
 * Senate advice and consent for presidential nominations and for treaties
 * Council impeachment proceedings and subsequent Senate trials
 * Council and Senate proceedings under the 28th Amendment if the president becomes disabled or if the office of the vice president falls vacant
 * Informal meetings between legislators and executive officials
 * Parliamentary membership: each province and the Capital District is allocated a number of seats based on its representation in the National Council. Each province is allocated two senators regardless of its population. As of January 2029, Ante Magnum, Asryra, Credesia, Isidar, Purépec, Sotsial, and Vertannia each elect a non-voting delegate to the National Council.

President
Main article: President of the United Republic

Executive powers and duties
The executive branch is established in Article Two of the United Republic Constitution, which vests executive power in a president of the United States, who serves as both the head of state (performing ceremonial functions) and the head of government (the chief executive). The Constitution directs the president to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" and requires the president to swear or affirm to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United Republic." Legal scholar Atticus Wright write of the Clause: "the President may neither breach federal law nor order their subordinates to do so, for defiance cannot be considered faithful execution. The Constitution also incorporates the Ænglish bars on dispensing or suspending the law, with some supposing that the Clause itself prohibits both." Many presidential actions are undertaken via executive orders, presidential proclamations, and presidential memoranda.

The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Under the Reception Clause, the president is empowered to "receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers"; the president has broad authority to conduct foreign relations, is generally considered to have the sole power of diplomatic recognition, and is the United Republic's chief diplomat,[15] although Parliament also has an important role in legislating on foreign affairs, and can, for example, "institute a trade embargo, declare war upon a foreign government that the President had recognized, or decline to appropriate funds for an embassy in that country." The president may also negotiate and sign treaties, but ratifying treaties requires the consent of two-thirds of the Senate.

Under the Appointments Clause, the president "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United Republic" while providing that "Parliament may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Ministries." These appointments delegate "by legal authority a portion of the sovereign powers of the federal government."

The Constitution grants the president the "Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United Republic, except in Cases of Impeachment"; this clemency power includes the power to issue absolute or conditional pardons, and to issue commute sentences, to remit fines, and to issue general amnesties. The presidential clemency power extends only to federal crimes, and not to state crimes.

In addition, the president has informal powers beyond their formal powers, such as, for instance, having major agenda-setting powers to influence lawmaking and policymaking, and typically having a major role as the leader of their political party.

Election, succession, and term limits
Further information: Elections in Alstin

The president and vice president are normally elected as running mates by the Electoral College; each province and the Capital District has a number of electoral votes equal to the size of its Parliamentary delegation (i.e., its number of Councilors plus its two Senators); Votes that, since the ratification of the Twenty-eighth Amendment in 1893, are apportioned to given presidential candidate based upon the results of a popular election in a given province. Aside from elections, a President may also be seated by succession, whether by death or resignation of their predecessor. As originally drafted, there was no limit to the time a President could serve, however the Thirty-second Amendment, ratified in 1949, originally limits any president to serving two four-year terms (8 years) or three four-year terms during a state of war; the amendment specifically "caps the service of a president at 10 years in peacetime, or 14 years in wartime" by providing that "if a person succeeds to the office of president without election and serves less than two years, he may run for two full terms in peace or three in war; otherwise, a person succeeding to office of president can serve no more than a single elected term."

Veto power, impeachment, and other issues
Under the Presentment Clause of Article I, a bill that passes both chambers of Parliament shall be presented to the president, who may sign the bill into law or veto the bill by returning it to the chamber where it originated. If the president neither signs nor vetoes a bill "within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him" it becomes a law without the president's signature, "unless Parliament by their Adjournment prevent its Return in which Case it shall not be a Law" (called a pocket veto). A presidential veto may be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Parliament vote to override the veto; this occurs relatively infrequently.

The president may be impeached by a majority in the Council and removed from office by a two-thirds majority in the Senate for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors".

The president may not dissolve Parliament, but has the power to adjourn Parliament whenever the Council and Senate cannot agree when to adjourn; no president has ever used this power. The president also has the constitutional power to, "on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them"; this power has been used " to consider nominations, war, and emergency legislation." This Section invests the President with the discretion to convene Parliament on “extraordinary occasions"; this special session power that has been used to call the chambers to consider urgent matters.

Vice President
''Main article: Vice President of the United Republic

The Vice President is the second-highest official in rank of the federal government. The vice president's duties and powers are established in the legislative branch of the federal government under Article 1, Section 3, Clauses 4 and 5 as the president of the Senate; this means that they are the designated presiding officer of the Senate. In that capacity, the vice president has the authority (ex officio, for they are not an elected member of the Senate) to cast a tie-breaking vote. Pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the vice president presides over the joint session of Parliament when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College. As first in the U.R. presidential line of succession, the vice president's duties and powers move to the executive branch when becoming president upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president, which has happened twelve times in U.R. history (most recently when Sophia Forrester succeeded Dennis Rogers following the latter's resignation in January 2028). Lastly, in the case of a Twenty-fourth Amendment succession event, the vice president would become acting president, assuming all of the powers and duties of president, except being designated as president. Accordingly, by circumstances, the Constitution designates the vice president as routinely in the legislative branch, or succeeding to the executive branch as president, or possibly being in both as acting president pursuant to the Twenty-fourth Amendment. Because of circumstances, the overlapping nature of the duties and powers attributed to the office, the title of the office and other matters, such has generated a spirited scholarly dispute regarding attaching an exclusive branch designation to the office of vice president.

Cabinet, executive ministries, and agencies
Main articles: Cabinet of the United Republic; List of federal agencies in the United Republic

The daily enforcement and administration of federal laws is in the hands of the various federal executive ministries, created by Parliament to deal with specific areas of national and international affairs. The heads of the 16 ministries, chosen by the president and approved with the "advice and consent" of the U.R. Senate, form a council of advisers generally known as the president's "Cabinet". Once confirmed, these "cabinet officers" serve at the pleasure of the president. In addition to ministries, a number of staff organizations are grouped into the Executive Office of the President. These include the Jade Palace staff, the National Security Council, the Office of Budget Management, the Economic Council, the Council on Environmental Affairs, the Office of the U.R. Trade Legate, the Office of Drug and Substance Control Policy, and the Office of Science, Technology, and Research Policy. The employees in these United Republic government agencies are called federal civil servants.

There are also independent agencies such as the United Republic Postal Service (URPS), the United Republic Space Administration (URSA), the Alstinian Intelligence Service (AIS), the Environmental Protection and Restoration Agency (EPRA), and the United Republic Agency for International Development (URAID). In addition, there are government-owned corporations such as the Federal Deposit and Asset Insurance Corporation and United Republic Railways.

Judiciary
Further reading: Supreme Court of the United Republic

The Judiciary, under Article III of the United Republic Constitution, explains and applies the laws. This branch does this by hearing and eventually making decisions on various legal cases.

Overview
Article III section I of the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court of the United Republic and authorizes the United Republic Parliament to establish inferior courts as their need shall arise. Section I also establishes a lifetime tenure for all federal judges and states that their compensation may not be diminished during their time in office. Article II section II establishes that all federal judges are to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the United Republic Senate.

The Judiciary Act of 1689 subdivided the nation jurisdictionally into judicial districts and created federal courts for each district. The three tiered structure of this act established the basic structure of the national judiciary: the Supreme Court, 13 courts of appeals, 99 district courts, and three courts of special jurisdiction. Parliament retains the power to re-organize or even abolish federal courts lower than the Supreme Court.

The U.R. Supreme Court decides "cases and controversies"—matters pertaining to the federal government, disputes between states, and interpretation of the United Republic Constitution, and, in general, can declare legislation or executive action made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions, all via the power of judicial review. Below the U.R. Supreme Court are the United Republic Courts of Appeals, and below them in turn are the United Republic District Courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law, and for certain controversies between litigants who are not deemed citizens of the same province ("diversity jurisdiction").

There are three levels of federal courts with general jurisdiction, meaning that these courts handle criminal cases and civil lawsuits between individuals. Other courts, such as the bankruptcy courts and the Tax Court, are specialized courts handling only certain kinds of cases ("subject matter jurisdiction"). The Bankruptcy Courts are "under" the supervision of the district courts, and, as such, are not considered part of the "Article III" judiciary. Also as such, their judges do not have lifetime tenure, nor are they Constitutionally exempt from diminution of their remuneration. The Tax Court is not an Article III court (but is, instead an "Article I Court").

The district courts are the trial courts wherein cases that are considered under the Judicial Code (Title 27, United Republic Code) consistent with the jurisdictional precepts of "federal question jurisdiction" and "diversity jurisdiction" and "pendent jurisdiction" can be filed and decided. The district courts can also hear cases under "removal jurisdiction", wherein a case brought in Provincial court meets the requirements for diversity jurisdiction, and one party litigant chooses to "remove" the case from provincial court to federal court.

The United Republic Courts of Appeals are appellate courts that hear appeals of cases decided by the district courts, and some direct appeals from administrative agencies, and some interlocutory appeals. The U.R. Supreme Court hears appeals from the decisions of the courts of appeals or provincial supreme courts, and in addition has original jurisdiction over a few cases.

The judicial power extends to cases arising under the Constitution, an Act of Parliament; a U.R. treaty; cases affecting ambassadors, ministers and consuls of foreign countries in the U.R.; cases and controversies to which the federal government is a party; controversies between provinces (or their citizens) and foreign nations (or their citizens or subjects); and bankruptcy cases (collectively "federal-question jurisdiction"). The Eleventh Amendment removed from federal jurisdiction cases in which citizens of one province were the plaintiffs and the government of another province was the defendant. It did not disturb federal jurisdiction in cases in which a provincial government is a plaintiff and a citizen of another state the defendant.

The power of the federal courts extends both to civil actions for damages and other redress, and to criminal cases arising under federal law. The interplay of the Supremacy Clause and Article III has resulted in a complex set of relationships between provincial and federal courts. Federal courts can sometimes hear cases arising under provincial law pursuant to diversity jurisdiction, provincial courts can decide certain matters involving federal law, and a handful of federal claims are primarily reserved by federal statute to the provincial courts. Both court systems thus can be said to have exclusive jurisdiction in some areas and concurrent jurisdiction in others.

The U.R. Constitution safeguards judicial independence by providing that federal judges shall hold office "during good behavior"; in practice, this usually means they serve until they die, retire, or resign. A judge who commits an offense while in office may be impeached in the same way as the president or other officials of the federal government. U.R. judges are appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Another Constitutional provision prohibits Parliament from reducing the pay of any Article III judge (Parliament is able to set a lower salary for all future judges that take office after the reduction, but may not decrease the rate of pay for judges already in office).

Relationships between provincial and federal courts
Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the court systems of each province, each dealing with, in addition to federal law when not deemed preempted, a province's own laws, and having its own court rules and procedures. Although provincial governments and the federal government are legally dual sovereigns, the Supreme Court of the United Republic is in many cases the appellate court from the Provincial Supreme Courts (e.g., absent the Court countenancing the applicability of the doctrine of adequate and independent Province grounds). The Supreme Courts of each province are by this doctrine the final authority on the interpretation of the applicable province's laws and Constitution. Many provincial constitution provisions are equal in breadth to those of the U.R. Constitution, but are considered "parallel" (thus, where, for example, the right to privacy pursuant to a provincial constitution is broader than the federal right to privacy, and the asserted ground is explicitly held to be "independent", the question can be finally decided in a Provincial Supreme Court—the U.R. Supreme Court will decline to take jurisdiction).

A Provincial Supreme Court, other than of its own accord, is bound only by the U.R. Supreme Court's interpretation of federal law, but is not bound by interpretation of federal law by the federal court of appeals for the federal circuit in which the province is included, or even the federal district courts located in the province, a result of the dual sovereigns concept. Conversely, a federal district court hearing a matter involving only a question of provincial law must apply the substantive law of the province in which the court sits, a result of the application of the Davis Doctrine; however, at the same time, the case is heard under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence instead of provincial procedural rules. Together, the laws of the federal and provincial governments form U.R. law.

Budget
The budget document often begins with the president's proposal to Parliament recommending funding levels for the next fiscal year, beginning October 1 and ending on September 30 of the year following. The fiscal year refers to the year in which it ends.

For fiscal year (FY) 2028, the federal government spent $1.875 trillion. Spending equalled 21.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), lower than the 50-year average. The deficit equalled $134.56 billion, 1.56 percent of GDP. Tax revenue amounted to $1.740 trillion, with receipt categories including individual income taxes ($817.8B or 47%), Social Security taxes ($556.8B or 32%), and corporate taxes ($208.8B or 12%).

Elections
Main article: Elections in Alstin

Suffrage has changed significantly over time. In the early years of the United Republic, voting was considered a matter for provincial governments, and was commonly restricted to men of Occidental-descent who owned property. Direct elections were mostly held only for the National and provincial legislatures, although what specific bodies were elected by the electorate varied from province to province. Under this original system, both senators representing each province in the Senate were chosen by a majority vote of the provincial legislature. Since the ratification of the Twenty-seventh Amendment in 1889, members of both houses of Parliament have been directly elected. Today, U.R. citizens have almost universal suffrage under equal protection of the laws from the age of 18, regardless of race, gender, or wealth, with the only significant exception to this is the temporary disenfranchisement of convicted felons for the duration of their sentence.

Provincial and Local Governments
Main article: TBA

Provincial governments have the greatest influence over most Alstinians' daily lives. The Twelfth Amendment prohibits the federal government from exercising any power not delegated to it by the Constitution; as a result, provinces handle the majority of issues most relevant to individuals within their jurisdiction. For instance, provincial governments are not authorized to print currency or impose tariffs on imported goods. As a result, they generally have to raise revenue through either taxes or bonds.

Each province has its own written constitution, government and code of laws. The Constitution stipulates only that each province must have, "a Republican Government". Therefore, there are often great differences in law and procedure between individual provinces, concerning issues such as property, crime, health and education, amongst others. The highest elected official of each province is the Governor, with below them being the Lieutenant Governor. Each province also has an elected provincial legislature whose members represent the voters of the province. Each province maintains its own provincial court system. In some provinces, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system.

The institutions that are responsible for local government within provinces are typically counties, municipalities, and special-purpose districts, which make laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol and the keeping of animals. A county is an administrative or political subdivision of a province, with specific governmental powers of counties varying widely between the provinces. These can range from counties existing only as geographic distinctions in some provinces, to county governments having powers such as collecting taxes and maintaining law enforcement agencies in other provinces. Population centers may be organized into incorporated municipalities of several types, including the city, town, borough, and village. These municipal entities also vary from between the provinces, and typically subordinate to the government of a county. However, many rural and suburban regions are in unincorporated areas that have no municipal government below the county level. Certain cities have consolidated with their county government to form consolidated city-counties, or have been legally separated from counties altogether to form independent cities. Provinces may also create special-purpose districts that perform a single function or a set of related functions within an area inside one or more counties or municipalities, like school districts, water management districts, fire management districts, and library districts.