Constitutional FAQ Answer #43
<<Previous Question | Question Index | Subject Index | Constitutional Index | Next Question>>
Q43. "Recently we took a test on the Constitution that asked a question about a suspensive veto. No one in our class, including our teacher, had ever heard of this. I was wondering if you could please tell me what a suspensive veto is and how it can be overridden?"
A. Generally, a suspensive veto is the ability of an executive to return a bill to the legislature without the bill becoming law. In the United States, the President can veto a bill the Congress has passed. See Article 1, Section 7, Clause 2. The veto is suspensive because the Congress can override the veto, given a large enough majority. The opposite of a suspensive veto is an absolute veto, a power the President does not have. However, if a vetoed bill is not repassed by Congress, the bill dies, and the suspensive veto, at that point, could be considered absolute.
|Home| |Constitution| |FAQ| |Topics|
|Forums| |Documents| |Timeline| |Kids| |Vermont|
|Map| |Citation| |Survey| |Support|
