Prepare: Prior to beginning your reflection this week, read chapters 5, 6, and 7 in American Government. Review the videos, Episode I - A More Perfect Union and Episode II - It's a Free Country regarding the U.S. Constitution.

Reflect: The executive and judicial branches of the U.S. national government often seem to operate independently and with little conflict. Many laws are signed by the President and then implemented without a word from the judicial branch. However, there are times when executive decisions are challenged by the judicial branch in a process called judicial review. In addition, there are times when a judicial review has direct impact on your life. For example, when the Supreme Court declared the Affordable Care Act constitutional, many people without health care insurance were finally able to purchase health care insurance. Additionally, when the Supreme Court declared sections of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, some of the constraints that prevented many gay and lesbian couples from marrying were eliminated. Executive Order 13658 on February 20, 2014 also had a direct impact on many business people that contract with the federal government by increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Clearly, the actions of the executive and judicial branches often directly affect our lives.

Write: Explain how and why the actions of the executive and/or judicial branches have personally affected your life. Fully respond to all parts of the question. Write in your own words. Support your position with APA citations to two or more of the assigned resources required for this discussion. Fully respond to all parts of the prompt and write your response in your own words. Your initial post must be 200 to 250 words. Please be sure that you demonstrate understanding of these resources, integrate them into your argument, and cite them properly.