A "Hard Look" at the Executive Branch's Asylum Decisions

In classrooms across the nation, students of elementary American civics are taught that the United States government is based on a system of checks and balances. By virtue of the separation of powers enumerated in the Constitution,' the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches of government each have the power, if not the obligation, to curb the excesses of the others. This Article considers a discrete checks and balances problem: the relationship of the three branches of government in deciding the claims of persons-commonly referred to as "refugees"-who have fled persecution in their native lands and seek asylum in the United States.