Clinton v. City of New York

Clinton v. City of New York
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 27, 1998 Decided June 25, 1998
Full case name	William J. Clinton, President of the United States, et al. v. City of New York, et al.
Citations	524 U.S. 417 (more) 118 S. Ct. 2091; 141 L. Ed. 2d 393; 1998 U.S. LEXIS 4215; 66 U.S.L.W. 4543; 98-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) P50,504; 81 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2416; 98 Cal. Daily Op. Service 4905; 98 Daily Journal DAR 6893; 1998 Colo. J. C.A.R. 3191; 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 735
Prior history	Judgment for plaintiffs, 985 F. Supp. 168 (D.D.C. 1998)
Holding
The President's unilateral striking of portions of legislation passed by Congress pursuant to the Line Item Veto Act was without legal force, because the U.S. Constitution did not authorize the President to enact federal law of which both houses of Congress had not previously approved the text.
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg
Concurrence	Kennedy
Concur/dissent	Scalia, joined by O'Connor; Breyer (in part)
Dissent	Breyer, joined by O'Connor, Scalia (in part)
Laws applied
U.S. Const. art. I; 2 U.S.C. § 691 et seq. (1994 ed., Supp. II) (Line Item Veto Act of 1996)

Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), is a legal case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the line-item veto as granted in the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 violated the Presentment Clause of the United States Constitution because it impermissibly gave the President of the United States the power to unilaterally amend or repeal parts of statutes that had been duly passed by the United States Congress. The decision of the Court, in a six-to-three majority, was delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens.

The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 allowed the president to "cancel," that is to void or legally nullify, certain provisions of appropriations bills, and disallowed the use of funds from canceled provisions for offsetting deficit spending in other areas.

The 1994 federal midterm elections signaled a sea-change in American politics known as the Republican Revolution, with the Republican Party taking control of both houses of the U.S. Congress from Democrats. Key to that revolution was the Republicans' Contract with America, which included a list of actions they promised to take if they gained control of Congress. Among this list was the Line Item Veto Act itself, one of two provisions designed to ensure congressional fiscal conservatism. The Act was the only provision of the "Contract with America" that President Clinton supported.