The Article I, Section 7 Game

Abstract

Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 of the Constitution provides that "[e]very Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the President of the United States" who may veto the bill; a vetoed bill can become law only if two-thirds of those voting in both chambers of Congress approve the bill, notwithstanding the President's objections. This provision, together with Clause 3, codify the so-called bicameralism and presentment requirements for statutemaking under the Constitution. For most of our history, bicameralism and presentment played little role in constitutional discourse. That changed in the 1980s. Article I, Section 7 figured prominently in several important constitutional debates in the Supreme Court during the last ten years.