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Constitutional Law • Delegation of Powers
CONLAW#027
Legal Definition
Legislative and line-item vetoes are unconstitutional because they violate the requirements of bicameralism and presentment. Rather, the President must sign or veto a bill in its entirety.
Plain English Explanation
A lot of effort goes into creating new laws. They start off as ideas in the House of Representatives, then are proposed to try to get support, handed off to committees for review, reported to the rest of the House, debated, and voted on before being passed over to the Senate to do additional research, debate, and voting. By the time it reaches the President of the United States to sign, the bill is now a robust, complex tapestry of ideas weaved together into a single proposed law. At this time, the President has the authority to either sign the bill and make it into an actual law, or to "veto" the bill and essentially toss it in the trash (though, as you'll learn in other cards, Congress can attempt to override the veto and rescue it from the trash).
Why is this all important? Because in 1996, Congress passed the Line Item Veto Act," which tried to give power to the President to make line-by-line adjustments to bills rather than vetoing the entire thing. Then, in 1997, Bill Clinton used this new power to cut out a few measures from an expansive spending and taxation bill passed by Congress.
In response, the Supreme Court was like, "Yo, wtf?" and ruled that the line-item veto was unconstitutional because it allowed the President to unilaterally change a law passed by Congress.
In other words, the Constitution allows the President a "take it or leave it" approach to signing bills into laws. A President can't just take out a sharpie and pretend they are part of the legislative process by changing parts of the bill before they sign it.
It's also worth noting that this is an example of a "non-delegable duty." In previous cards, you learned that Congress can delegate some of its duties, but not ones that it is Constitutionally required to do itself. Crafting legislation is one such duty that can't simply be handed over to the Executive branch even if Congress votes that they are all cool with doing so.
Why is this all important? Because in 1996, Congress passed the Line Item Veto Act," which tried to give power to the President to make line-by-line adjustments to bills rather than vetoing the entire thing. Then, in 1997, Bill Clinton used this new power to cut out a few measures from an expansive spending and taxation bill passed by Congress.
In response, the Supreme Court was like, "Yo, wtf?" and ruled that the line-item veto was unconstitutional because it allowed the President to unilaterally change a law passed by Congress.
In other words, the Constitution allows the President a "take it or leave it" approach to signing bills into laws. A President can't just take out a sharpie and pretend they are part of the legislative process by changing parts of the bill before they sign it.
It's also worth noting that this is an example of a "non-delegable duty." In previous cards, you learned that Congress can delegate some of its duties, but not ones that it is Constitutionally required to do itself. Crafting legislation is one such duty that can't simply be handed over to the Executive branch even if Congress votes that they are all cool with doing so.
