The presidential veto power is used most effectively when which of the following occurs?

March 03, 1845

Last Updated January 1, 2021

/tiles/non-collection/f/fdr_vetomessage_2008_231_002.xml Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
About this object In 1935, FDR came to the House Chamber to deliver his veto message in person.

Article I, section 7 of the Constitution grants the President the authority to veto legislation passed by Congress. This authority is one of the most significant tools the President can employ to prevent the passage of legislation. Even the threat of a veto can bring about changes in the content of legislation long before the bill is ever presented to the President. The Constitution provides the President 10 days (excluding Sundays) to act on legislation or the legislation automatically becomes law. There are two types of vetoes: the “regular veto” and the “pocket veto.”The regular veto is a qualified negative veto. The President returns the unsigned legislation to the originating house of Congress within a 10 day period usually with a memorandum of disapproval or a “veto message.” Congress can override the President’s decision if it musters the necessary two–thirds vote of each house. President George Washington issued the first regular veto on April 5, 1792. The first successful congressional override occurred on March 3, 1845, when Congress overrode President John Tyler’s veto of S. 66.

The pocket veto is an absolute veto that cannot be overridden. The veto becomes effective when the President fails to sign a bill after Congress has adjourned and is unable to override the veto. The authority of the pocket veto is derived from the Constitution’s Article I, section 7, “the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case, it shall not be law.” Over time, Congress and the President have clashed over the use of the pocket veto, debating the term “adjournment.” The President has attempted to use the pocket veto during intra- and inter- session adjournments and Congress has denied this use of the veto. The Legislative Branch, backed by modern court rulings, asserts that the Executive Branch may only pocket veto legislation when Congress has adjourned sine die from a session. President James Madison was the first President to use the pocket veto in 1812.

Congresses	President	Regular Vetoes	Pocket Vetoes	Total Vetoes	Vetoes Overridden
1st-4th	George Washington	2	.....	2	.....
5th-6th	John Adams	.....	.....	.....	.....
7th-10th	Thomas Jefferson	.....	.....	.....	.....
11th–14th	James Madison	5	2	7	.....
15th–18th	James Monroe	1	.....	1	.....
19th–20th	John Quincy Adams	.....	.....	.....	.....
21st–24th	Andrew Jackson	5	7	12	.....
25th–26th	Martin Van Buren	.....	1	1	.....
27th	William Henry Harrison	.....	.....	.....	.....
27th–28th	John Tyler	6	4	10	1
29th–30th	James K. Polk	2	1	3	.....
31st	Zachary Taylor	.....	.....	.....	.....
31st–32nd	Millard Fillmore	.....	.....	.....	.....
33rd–34th	Franklin Pierce	9	.....	9	5
35th–36th	James Buchanan	4	3	7	.....
37th–39th	Abraham Lincoln	2	5	7	.....
39th–40th	Andrew Johnson	21	8	29	15
41st–44th	Ulysses S. Grant	45	48	93	4
45th–46th	Rutherford B. Hayes	12	1	13	1
47th	James A. Garfield	.....	.....	.....	.....
47th–48th	Chester A. Arthur	4	8	12	1
49th–50th	Grover Cleveland	304	110	414	2
51st–52nd	Benjamin Harrison	19	25	44	1
53rd–54th	Grover Cleveland	42	128	170	5
55th–57th	William McKinley	6	36	42	.....
57th–60th	Theodore Roosevelt	42	40	82	1
61st–62nd	William H. Taft	30	9	39	1
63rd–66th	Woodrow Wilson	33	11	44	6
67th	Warren G. Harding	5	1	6	.....
68th–70th	Calvin Coolidge	20	30	50	4
71st–72nd	Herbert C. Hoover	21	16	37	3
73rd–79th	Franklin D. Roosevelt	372	263	635	9
79th–82nd	Harry S. Truman	180	70	250	12
83rd–86th	Dwight D. Eisenhower	73	108	181	2
87th–88th	John F. Kennedy	12	9	21	.....
88th–90st	Lyndon B. Johnson	16	14	30	.....
91st–93rd	Richard M. Nixon	26	17	43	7
93rd–94th	Gerald R. Ford	48	18	66	12
95th–96th	James Earl Carter	13	18	31	2
97th–100th	Ronald Reagan	39	39	78	9
101st–102nd	George H. W. Bush1	29	15	44	1
103rd–106th	William J. Clinton2	36	1	37	2
107th–110th	George W. Bush3	12	.....	12	4
111th–114th	Barack H. Obama4	12	.....	12	1
115th–116th	Donald J. Trump	10	.....	10	1
Total		1518	1066	2584	112

The Line Item Veto Act, P.L. 104-130, allowed the President, within five days (excluding Sundays) after signing a bill, to cancel in whole three types of revenue provisions within the bill. The cancellation would take effect upon receipt by Congress of a special message from the President. Congress could "override" the line-item veto by enacting a disapproval bill that would make the cancellation message null and void. On June 25, 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court held the Line Item Veto Act unconstitutional.