Political Quotes

“If I might reply to my distinguished friend and chairman who asked, ``Who has agreed? If we assert this is unconstitutional, who has agreed?'' May I just read a passage from the opinion of the one Justice of the Supreme Court who has commented on the constitutionality question? It was John Paul Stevens, 26 June, 1997. Our complaint had been filed on January 2, the first business day of this year after the act took effect. He says: The line-item veto purports to establish a procedure for the creation of laws that are truncated versions of bills that have been passed by the Congress and presented to the President for signature. If the procedure were valid, it would deny every Senator and every Representative any opportunity to vote for or against the truncated measure that survives the exercise of the President's cancellation authority. Because the opportunity to cast such votes is a right guaranteed by the text of the Constitution, I think it clear that the persons who are deprived of that right by the act [meaning the plaintiffs] have standing to challenge its constitutionality. Moreover, because the impairment of that constitutional right has an immediate impact on their official powers, in my judgment they need not wait until after the President has exercised his cancellation authority to bring suit. Finally, the same reason that the respondents have standing provides a sufficient basis for concluding that the statute is unconstitutional.…”