Veto

Veto in parliamentary government, the executive power, as that of the president of the United States, to abrogate or kill a measure that has already been passed by a legislative body. The word veto is a Latin term that means “I forbid.”

According to Article 1, Section 7, of the U.S. Constitution, the president has only limited veto authority since negation of a legislative act can be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. A presidential veto, unlike that in many states, is comprehensive, applying to all parts of a bill, and the president must communicate to Congress the reasons for a veto. In 1996 Congress passed the Line-Item Veto Act, which gave the president the power to veto individual items in funding or tax bills. In 1998, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the act was unconstitutional. In the case of a so-called pocket veto, sometimes used for political reasons, a bill fails to become law when the president does not sign it and the Congress happens to adjourn within a ten-day period after its submission to the chief executive. On the other hand, if Congress remains in session and does not receive the unsigned bill from the president within that time, the measure becomes law. The great majority of presidential vetoes throughout American history have not been overridden. For example, of the some 600 vetoes handed down by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and '40s, only 9 were overridden by Congress.

The governors of most states in the U.S. have veto powers, which in some cases can be overruled by a simple majority rather than two-thirds of their legislatures. The monarch of Great Britain has long had putative absolute veto power, but this prerogative has not been exercised since 1708. In the Security Council of the United Nations (see Security Council, United Nations), each of the five permanent members—France, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, and the U.S.—has veto power over all substantive matters.

See also Congress of the United States; Legislature; President of the United States; United Nations.