The Constitution of the United States. Worksheet 1. Veto process, legislative process, legislative branch, separation of powers, and checks and balances. While the word "veto" does not appear in the Constitution the power of the President to refuse to sign legislation is clearly outlined in the Constitution:.
The Framers of the Constitution gave the President the power to veto acts of Congress to prevent the legislative branch from becoming too powerful.
This is an illustration of the separation of powers integral to the U. By separating the powers of government into three branches and creating a system of "checks and balances" between them, the Framers hoped to prevent the misuse or abuse of power. The veto allows the President to "check" the legislature by reviewing acts passed by Congress and blocking measures he finds unconstitutional, unjust, or unwise. Congress's power to override the President's veto forms a "balance" between the branches on the lawmaking power.
Students can use a veto message and vetoed bill to make a direct connection between the Constitution, the legislative and veto process, and the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches of government. A facsimile of a President Richard Nixon veto and the vetoed bill S.
The content of this veto message and vetoed bill provide additional evidence of the separation of powers and checks and balances. Referring to the "deeply rooted" "constitutional principle" of separation of powers, President Nixon explains that he is exercising the veto because S.
He maintains that the Presidential power to remove executive officers is "an exclusive power that cannot be infringed upon by the Congress. Read the Background Information for Teachers to see an overview of the Constitutional clauses which delineate the veto process and a description of the text or markings in the documents which illustrate the process in action. Direct students to define "veto" and "veto override.
Ask students to locate in the document evidence of each of the steps in the veto process as described in Article I, Section 7, clause 2 of the Constitution. Use Worksheet 1 to identify the steps and locate the evidence. Refer to the Background Information for Teachers for assistance identifying all parts of the process. Often, the threat of a veto is enough to ward off legislation that will surely get rejected by the President.
One official way the President can warn Congress about his intention to issue a veto is by using a Statement of Administration Policy , and President Trump did just that on February The Obama and George W.
Bush presidencies marked a noted shift in the use of vetoes as policy tactic or a sign of presidential disapproval.
In terms of total vetoes regular and pocket , they were the fewest vetoes issued by a President since Warren Harding was in office between and The king of presidential vetoes was Grover Cleveland, whose Democrats only controlled Congress for two of his eight years in office. President Cleveland issued regular vetoes in eight years. Cleveland was also a big fan of the pocket veto; he issued pocket vetoes. Franklin Roosevelt used the regular veto times in 12 years.
Johnson used 29 vetoes in four years, but 15 of his vetoes were overridden. Once both houses of Congress approve the same version of a bill or joint resolution, it goes to the president, who has 10 days not including Sundays to act on that legislation.
If the president takes no action on a bill within 10 days, and Congress is in session, the bill automatically becomes law. Once a president has sent a bill back to Congress, he cannot change his mind and ask for it back. Ulysses S. Grant tried to do this twice during his presidency, but Congress refused to comply. In this case, the bill will not become law, and Congress must begin the process all over again if it wants to revive the legislation.
The pocket veto is an absolute veto, which Congress cannot override. In the early s, after both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford attempted to use the pocket veto during brief adjournments during a congressional session, the U.
Court of Appeals for Washington , D. Congress can override a regular presidential veto with a two-thirds vote of those present in both the House and the Senate. As of , presidents had vetoed more than 2, bills, and Congress had overridden less than 5 percent of those vetoes. The Constitution does not give the president the ability to reject parts of a bill and approve the remainder—or line-item veto power—which most state governors have.
Since the s, more than amendments have been proposed to change this, but none have been passed. In , Congress passed a law giving the president the line-item veto, but the Supreme Court later ruled it unconstitutional on the grounds that it gave the president more power than the Constitution allowed.
For that reason, the majority of vetoes before were on constitutional grounds. Then came Andrew Jackson. Only the fourth president to use the veto power, he openly declared he was vetoing bills based on political, rather than constitutional grounds. Since the Civil War , most presidents have not vetoed bills on constitutional grounds, but because they considered the legislation unjust or simply unwise.
In , George Washington exercised the presidential veto power for the first time ; he would use the veto only twice during his presidency, and was never overridden. Perhaps unsurprisingly—given the length of time he spent in office—President Franklin D.
Roosevelt vetoed the most bills of any president in history, with He was overridden only nine times. In more recent decades, some notable vetoes and overrides have shaped the course of American government and society.
In , Nixon vetoed the Comprehensive Child Care Development Act, dashing hopes that the United States would begin building a system of universal, federally financed day care.
In , Ford vetoed the Freedom of Information Act due to national security concerns.
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