Also known as: one House legislative veto · legislative veto · one-house veto
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legislative mechanism by which one chamber of Congress nullifies an executive action or decision. The mechanism alters the legal rights or duties of persons outside the legislative branch. It violates the Constitution because it bypasses the requirements of bicameral passage and presentment to the President.
The Federal Trade Commission approved a nonprofit's application for a refugee resettlement grant. One house of Congress then passed a resolution voiding the grant without approval from the other house or the President. The nonprofit lost the funding and sued, claiming the resolution had no legal effect because it failed to satisfy bicameralism and presentment.
Oak Mall and Republic Goods received Department of Health and Human Services approval for their merger. The Federal Bureau of Investigation then adopted a single-chamber resolution blocking the transaction. The companies halted integration plans and challenged the resolution as an invalid alteration of their legal rights.
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The Federal Banking Commission granted NovaPay a special-purpose bank charter. The House of Representatives alone passed a resolution canceling the charter under a statutory provision allowing unilateral action. NovaPay lost its operating authority and sued on separation-of-powers grounds.
The Federal Energy Siting Commission approved Horizon Utilities' interstate pipeline. The Senate alone adopted a resolution nullifying the approval and ordering construction to stop. Horizon sued, arguing the resolution changed its legal rights without bicameral approval or presentment.
Northstar Health Systems obtained a staffing-rule waiver from the Federal Health Services Agency. The House passed a simple resolution directing revocation of the waiver. Northstar's obligations increased immediately, prompting a constitutional challenge to the one-chamber action.
The Federal Workplace Safety Agency issued Metro Scaffold a permit for experimental designs. The Senate alone passed a resolution canceling the permit. Metro lost the authorization to use the designs nationwide and filed suit alleging an unconstitutional legislative veto.
The Constitution requires that any exercise of legislative power altering the rights or duties of persons outside Congress must pass both houses and be presented to the President. A one-house resolution that cancels an executive grant or approval bypasses these steps and therefore has no legal effect.
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No. The original statute may have been passed properly, but the later one-house action itself constitutes a new exercise of legislative power. That action must independently satisfy bicameralism and presentment regardless of when the veto mechanism was first authorized.
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No. When the resolution changes a private party's legal rights after an agency has already acted, the action is legislative in character. Labeling it oversight or a built-in condition does not remove the requirement that both houses and the President participate.
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The executive decision remains in effect. The one-house resolution is invalid, so the agency approval, grant, charter, or permit continues unless set aside through a properly enacted statute or other lawful means.
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…in purpose and effect, and thus was subject to the procedural requirements of Art. I, § 7, for legislative action. (c) The legislative veto is an invalid shortcut. It is not a valid exception to the general rule that Congress may not delegate lawmaking power to itself or one of its Houses. Majority opinion Opinion of…