Whither the Line Item Veto?

BizzyBlog and QandO are discussing the President’s new proposal for a line item veto, and why it may — or may not — pass the Constitutional test.

In my view the Court was wrong to strike it down the last time, but since, after close consultation with me, the Court decided otherwise (okay, I made up the part about consulting with me), I don’t see a lot of hope for the new version. Admittedly, I have only spent about five minutes considering the question, but whence does the President get the Constitutional authority to compel the Congress to hold a vote?

I favor tools that buttress the good work of anyone trying to responsibly tame the federal spending monster, but I fear that we may be over-emphasizing the acquisition of tools and under-emphasizing the difficult and controversial work of simply cutting spending and reforming and modernizing our entitlement programs.

Addendum, March 7: SCOTUSBlog has further analysis.



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