This is something that civics professors and the media get wrong. We do not have three co-equal branches of government. The Congress has more power than either of the other two branches. It's all there in the Constitution.
Lesson to follow...
Congress controls the budget. The Executive must be specifically authorized by legislation before it can spend any money on anything.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law;
Article I, Section 9
Congress can remove from office any executive branch official or Federal judge. No such powers exist in the other direction.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.
Article I, Section 2
Only Congress can declare war. Since, in the 1790s, nations did not engage in combat without declarations of war, this means that it is the sole province of Congress to determine when and whom the United States fights. Only afterward are the reins handed to the President, to direct the conduct of the war.
The Congress shall have the power To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
Article I, Section 8
The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States;
Article II, Section 2
Congress can control the jurisdictions of the Federal courts. That means they can place whole areas of law outside of Court review.
In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
Article III, Section 2
The President is required to seek the advice and consent of the Congress before negotiating any treaty or appointing any official, unless that appointment is placed at his discretion by Congress.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he 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 States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress 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 departments.
Article II, Section 2
Only Congress can suspend Habeas Corpus.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
Article I, Section 9 (Limits on Legislative Power)
The Constitution clearly grants Congress far greater powers than any other branch of government. I can find no support in the Constitution for either the "Unitary Executive theory", nor the "tyranny of the Judiciary".
It's too bad that our Legislators don't, by and large, seem to have actually read the damned thing. Or that so few of our citizens ever have, either. I've seriously considered giving framed copies to friends and family members as Christmas presents, but it seemed a bit blunt, even for me.
--Shannon