Reading Room Document

Constitutionality of Line-Item Veto Proposal

A bill that purports to give the President a line-item veto by providing that each item of appropriation in an appropriation bill be enrolled, although not voted on, as a separate bill raises serious constitutional questions under Article I, § 7, cl. 2 of the Constitution. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23711/download.

February 1, 1985