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Bill Clinton

Presidency

What federal law related to the veto power was signed by Clinton, but later invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court?

President Clinton signed into law the Line Item Veto Act of 1996, which gave the president the power to veto specific budgetary provisions of a bill without impacting the rest of the legislation. The measure had been introduced by Senator Robert Dole. The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the measure in Clinton v. City of New York (1998) by a six to three vote. Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote: “this Act gives the President the unilateral power to change the text of duly enacted statutes.” He concluded: “If there is to be a new procedure in which the President will play a different role in determining the final text of what may ‘become a law,’ such change must come not by legislation but through the amendment procedures set forth in Article V of the Constitution.”