Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 519.0

524US2

Unit: $U93

[09-11-00 13:25:42] PAGES PGT: OPIN

474

CLINTON v. CITY OF NEW YORK

Breyer, J., dissenting

Major Premise: The Constitution sets forth an exclusive
method for enacting, repealing, or amending laws. See
ante, at 438–440.
Minor Premise: The Act authorizes the President to “re-
pea[l] or amen[d]” laws in a different way, namely by
announcing a cancellation of a portion of a previously
enacted law. See ante, at 436–438.
Conclusion: The Act is inconsistent with the Constitu-
tion. See ante, at 448–449.

I ﬁnd this syllogism unconvincing, however, because its
Minor Premise is faulty. When the President “canceled” the
two appropriation measures now before us, he did not repeal
any law nor did he amend any law. He simply followed
the law, leaving the statutes, as they are literally written,
intact.

To understand why one cannot say, literally speaking, that
the President has repealed or amended any law, imagine how
the provisions of law before us might have been, but were
not, written.
Imagine that the canceled New York health
care tax provision at issue here, Pub. L. 105–33, § 4722(c),
111 Stat. 515 (quoted in full ante, at 422–423, n. 2), had in-
stead said the following:

.

“Section One. Taxes .
. that were collected by the
State of New York from a health care provider before
June 1, 1997, and for which a waiver of the provisions
[requiring payment] have been sought . . . are deemed
to be permissible health care related taxes . . . provided
the just-
however that
mentioned provision from having legal force or effect
if he determines x, y, and z” (Assume x, y, and z to
be the same determinations required by the Line Item
Veto Act).

the President may prevent

Whatever a person might say, or think, about the constitu-
tionality of this imaginary law, there is one thing the English
language would prevent one from saying. One could not say
that a President who “prevent[s]” the deeming language