The record-union., 1891-04-12
THE VETO POWER.
Its True Office Under the C0nsti-
tuition.
Congress is Losing Its Character as
Legislative Body, or the Executive
is Passing Beyond the just Limit of
Its Power-A Thoughtful Paper.

In q foot note the learned editor OF
Chancellor Kent's Commentaries, sew
enth addition, 1851, speaking of the con-
stitutional power of the President to veto
a measure, says: ''This qualified negative
of the President has, in the progress of
the administration of the Government,
since the first publication of these Com
mentaries 1926 become a very grave
power, and applied under the ordinary
name of veto, with familiarity which
appears not to have been anticipated by
the generation which adopted the Consti-
tuition"
If forty years ago some alarm was felt
at the frequent use of the veto power-up
to which time it had been used thirty
nine times in all, by six different Prcsl-
dents-what must the student Of our
legislative history think when he finds
that it has been resorted to be eight diff
ferent Presidents since that date 493
times, and that Mr.. Cleveland alone used
1t Alb times?
During the period of twenty-five years.
between the first and seventh editions OF
Kent, the veto was used thirty times.
During the period of twenty-five years
preceding Mr.. Harrison's admInlstra-
tion, the veto was used 479 times.
May we not profitable inquiry into the
true office ofthe veto power as given by
our Constitution?
One of two things is true: Either our
Congress is losing its character as legis-
latiye body, or the Executive is passing
beyond the Just limits of its power. An
examination Of our fundamental law, as
understood when framed, and an analy-
sis of the rapidly-increasing number of
Vetoes will, | think, show a dangerous
and menacing departure from the mean
dng Of the Constitution IN lodging this
great prerogative with the President.
Article l., Section l, provides: 'All
legislative power herein granted shall be
vested in a Congress of the United States,
which shall consist of q Senate and House
of Representatives"
Legislative power rests nowhere else,
and any exercise of such power by the
Executive, or by the Judiciary would
be usurpation. But the same Article,
Section Z, also provides:
Every bill which shall have passed
the House of Representatives and the
Senate shall, before it become law, be
presented to the President of the United
States. If he approve, he shall sign it;
but if not, he shall return it, with his OBJ
jections, to that House in which it shall
have originated, who shall enter his OBJ
JectonS at large upon their journal and
proceed to reconsider it. If after such
reconsideration two-thirds of the House
shall agreeto pass the bill, it shall be sent,
together with the objections, to the other
House, by which it shall likewise be re-
considered; and if approved by two
thirds of that House, il shall become
law. But in all such cases the votes of
both Houses shall be determined by yeas
and nays, and the names of the persons
voting for and against the bill Shall be
entered on the journal of each House re-
spectively. If any bill shall not be re-
turned by the President within ten days
Sundays excepted) after it shall have
been presented to him, the same shall be
a law in like manner as if he had signed
1T; unless the Congress by their adjourn
ment prevent its return, in which case it
shall not be law
AS part Of the method by which we
enact laws, they must first be submitted
TO the President, but not as a branch of
the Congress; not as a part of the legis-
lative power; not to obtain his private or
personal Judgment as member of Con-
greSs itself; not to be reviewed by him
originally and passed upon in legis-
latiye capacity.
The provision, though broad, sweep
ing and in terms absolute, vet has it's
limitations. To pass beyond them Is to
enter most dangerous shoals and obliter-
ate the dividing line between two great
departments Of Government.
1t is matter of common notoriety that
persons and communities interested
fn legislation find it often neces-
sary to submit to the Executive
gauntlet in matters of ordinary legisla-
fion where formerly all soicitude would
have ended with the passage of the
Act by Congress. "What will the Presi-
dent do with the bill?' is question
asked now where formerly it would have
been assumed as of course that his ap-
proval would be given. We are becom-
ing used not only TO legislative policy
81
President. Does the Constitution con-
template that the President shall exer-
else an unlimited, unrestricted right to
take part in all legislation, precisely as a
member Of Congress may, or is his right
to participate or express dissent or ap-
proval defined by some clear boundaries?
The question is important.
Mr.. Blackstone in his Commentaries
on the Laws of England deals with the
King as a constituent part of Parliament.
The King, the Lords spiritual, the Lords
temporal Sitting together with the King
in one house,, and the CommonerS, who
sit by themselves in another house. form
the great corporation or body polite OF
the Kingdom. ITO preserve the balance
of the Constitution he says, "the execu-
tive power should be a branch, though
not the whole of the legislative. The to-
tai union or total disjunction in either
case would be productive of tyranny. The
by making continual encroachments
upon and gradually assuming to itself the
rights of the executive power" He cites
the instance of the long Parliament OF
Charles l., while it acted with royal con-
currence, redressed many grievances and
established many salutary laws. But
when the two houses assumed the power
of legislation, in exclusion of the royal
authority, they soon after likewise as
Sumed the TeinS of administration and
overturned both Church and State as a
consequence, and established a worse op-
preston than they pretended to remedy.
''TO hinder, therefore, any such encrOach-
ments,' he says, ''the King is himself a
part of the Parliament; and as this is the
reason of his being so, very properly
therefore, the share Of legislation, which
the Constitution has placed in the Crown
consists in the power of rejecting rather
than reSotUt7g; this being sufficient tc
answer the end proposed
He points out that the legislative can.
rot abridge the executive power of any
Fights which il has without its own con.
gent, for all must agree to any laws pro
posed. And herein,' he continues
''consists the true excellence of the Eng.
1ish Government that all the parts of ii
form mutual check upon each other
In the Legislature the people are a check
upon the nobility, and the nobility
check upon the people, by the mutua
privilege of rejecting what the other has
resolved; while the King is a check upoT
both; achich preserves the eLeclstiUe pore,
from e1lcTOacl31He5ltS."
lie also points out further the workings
Of the system by showing that the King
is again checked by the power of i'm
peachment. not of the King (which would
destroy his constitutional independence
but of his evil and pernicious counselors
through whom alone the King can act IL