Line Item Veto Act Unconstitutional: (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Aug. 18, 1998 |
| Report Number |
98-690 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Thomas J. Nicola, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
On June 25, 1998, the United States Supreme Court in Clinton, et al. v. C ity
of New York, et al., held
that the Line Item Veto Act, violated the Presentment Clause of the Constitution. The Clause
requires that every bill which has passed the House and Senate before becoming law must be
presented to the President for approval or veto, but is silent on whether the President may amend or
repeal provisions of bills that have passed the House and Senate in identical form. The Court
interpreted silence on this issue as equivalent to an express prohibition.
The Court concluded that the Line Item Veto Act unconstitutionally empowered the President
unilaterally to repeal or amend provisions of duly enacted bills. Nonvetoed items that emerged as
law were truncated versions of bills that passed both Houses of Congress, but not the product of the
finely wrought procedure for lawmaking designed by the Framers of the Constitution. For
background information on the line item veto issue, see the Guide to CRS
Products under Budgets-Process. This report will not be updated.
