Fourth branch of

government
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the American political system, the fourth branch of government refers to a group that influences the
three branches of government defined in the American Constitution(legislative, executive and judicial).
Such groups can include the press (an analogy for the Fourth Estate), the people, and interest groups.
U.S. independent administrative government agencies, while technically part of the executive branch (or,
in a few cases, the legislative branch) of government, are sometimes referred to as being part of the
fourth branch.
In some cases the term is pejorative because such a fourth branch has no official status. The term is also
widely used as a picturesque phrase without derogatory intent. Where the use is intended to be
pejorative, it can be a rhetorical shorthand to illustrate the user's belief in the illegitimacy of certain types
of governmental authority with a concomitant skepticism towards the origin of such authority.
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1 The press
2 The people
3 Interest groups
4 Administrative agencies
5 Other "fourth branches"
6 Popular culture
7 References

The press[edit]
The concept of the media or press as a fourth branch stems from a belief that the news media's
responsibility to inform the populace is essential to the healthy functioning of the democracy.

[1]

The

phrase "Fourth Estate" may be used to emphasize the independence of the press particularly when this is
contrasted with the press as a "fourth branch".

The people[edit]

[2]

Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion, The People are the fourth branch that governs the government.
The People govern the other three Branches in the form of a Common Law Peoples Grand Jury. The
grand jury is mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but not in the body of the Constitution. It has not been
textually assigned, therefore, to any of the branches described in the first three Articles. It "is a
constitutional fixture in its own right". In fact the whole theory of its function is that it belongs to no branch
of the institutional government, serving as a kind of buffer or referee between the Government and the
people (United States v. Williams, 1992).

Interest groups[edit]
In an article titled "The 'Fourth Branch' of Government", Alex Knott of the Center for Public Integrity
asserted in 2005 that "special interests and the lobbyists they employ have reported spending, since
1998, a total of almost $13 billion to influence Congress, the White House and more than 200 federal
agencies."

[3]

Administrative agencies[edit]
The administrative agencies that are funded from public money may exercise powers granted by
Congress. Without appropriate controls and oversight this practice may result in a bureaucracy (in the
original literal sense). Some critics have argued that a central paradox at the heart of the American
political system is democracy's reliance on the what the critics view as undemocratic bureaucratic
institutions that characterize the administrative agencies of government.

[4]

An argument made for calling

administrative agencies a "fourth branch" of government is the fact that such agencies typically exercise
all three constitutionally divided powers within a single bureaucratic body: That is, agencies legislate (a
power vested solely in the legislature by the Constitution)

[5]

through delegated rulemaking authority;

investigate, execute, and enforce such rules (via the executive power these agencies are typically
organized under); and apply, interpret, and enforce compliance with such rules (a power separately
vested in the judicial branch).

[6]

Additionally, non-executive, or "independent" administrative agencies are

often called a fourth branch of government, as they create rules with the effect of law, yet may be
comprised at least partially of private, non-governmental actors.

Other "fourth branches"[edit]

Federal Reserve (central bank of the United States)

Office of the Independent Counsel (or its successor the U.S. Department of

Justice Office of Special Counsel)

Office of Personnel Management (The civil service)

Freemasons (during the 19th century when Americans thought secret societies

had immense power)

Popular culture[edit]

In The Simpsons episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts" (originally aired October 9,

1994), Springfield's leading conservative talk radio host, Birch Barlow (a parody of leading
American conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh) welcomes listeners to his show by
introducing himself as the "fourth branch of government" and the "51st state."

In 2007, the short-lived ABC drama-thriller Traveler, the fourth branch existed as
a secret society created by the Founding Fathers and composed of the oldest families in
theUnited States, whose purpose is to implement checks and balances on the U.S.
government to guide the true course of America.

Rapper and political activist Immortal Technique has a track entitled the "4th
branch," in which he applies the role of said branch to the media in a pejorative manner. He
implies in this track (or pretty much explicitly states) that the US media of the time acts more
like another part of the government instead of its own independent entity, and he gives some
of his reasons for this belief on the track.

"4th Branch" is also the name of a record label - 4th Branch Records, owned by
DJ Prezzident, based in Columbia, Missouri.