The Balance of Power (play)

I was asked to create a light entertainment for a judicial conference. The subject, resolved: the balance of power in the United States federal government, as described in that classic School House Rock anthem, “Three-Ring Government."

No one can be
More powerful than any other is
Each controls the other, you see
And that’s what we call checks and balances.

Martin Friedman, who reached out to me about the work, and directed today’s performance, asked that I focus on the case of Marbury v. Madison – you know, that famous 1803 Supreme Court case, Marbury v. Madison.

In all seriousness, however, when I asked this lawyer acquaintance of mine about it, he was quite familiar, that case is Law School 101, the one which established the Supreme Court’s power to strike down any law deemed “unconstitutional.”

So, I would be describing to a hall of judges and lawyers a case with which they were already very familiar? Got it. We’re making it funny.

Carrie Williams

Researching (and comprehending) Marbury led me backward to the Federalist Papers, and Alexander “THE OTHER FIFTY-ONE” Hamilton, so he’s in there. I even tried to drop in a piece about the Civil War, but let’s face it, the Civil War isn’t funny.

It was suggested that the show culminate with Richard Nixon, and his decision to cleave to his oath and resign the Presidency, even or because he eventually did so only because he was compelled to by the other two branches of government. And the press.

To bridge these century-spanning events, and to bring things into a contemporary context, I staged an argument between the four current, adult, living generations of Americans about the Constitutional crises of their respective youths. Because I had been asked specifically not to mention you-know-who, as if that was even necessary.

This play script is available for reading at New Play Exchange.   

"The Balance of Power" was commissioned by and performed for the Judicial Conference of the Eighth Judicial District at the Hilton Downtown on Friday, April 24, 2026.