Clinton v. City of New York

The decision recognized the limits of Congress in delegating its legislative powers to the president and maintained a traditional separation of power between the two branches of government. The Court asserted that Congress could alter the president's role in determining the final text of a law only by constitutional amendment. No constitutional provisions otherwise exist for presidents to enact, repeal, or amend laws. Having witnessed the application of the veto for 18 months and given the strong Court ruling, support diminished for further efforts at instituting a line-item veto power.

In defining the legislative process for making laws, the framers assigned the president veto power in section 7 of Article 1 of the Constitution, later known as the Presentment Clause. The section reads that a bill passed by Congress "shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it." Congress could still pass the law as written over the president's veto with two thirds vote of each house. The veto was seen as a barrier against hastily enacting "improper" laws.

Since the 1870s, presidents have often sought line a item veto option, vetoing portions of bills while the remainder became law. In the early 1970s, President Richard M. Nixon liberally applied an impounded strategy, a constitutionally questionable process of not spending funds Congress had obtained. In reaction, Congress passed the Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requiring congressional approval of impoundment "cuts."