Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Illinois

Re: congress votes pay raise,when effective

1. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ineligible to be president because he was not born a United States citizen. The Constitution can be amended to remove this requirement, but this is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future.

2. The Constitution also forbids anyone who has been elected President twice to serve again, so Bill Clinton cannot resume the office unless the Constitution is amended to make this possible.

3. Ordinarily, Congressional pay raises become effective at the beginning of the next session of Congress.

4. A presidential veto must apply to the entire bill. For many years, Presidents of both parties sought the authority for a "line-item" veto which would allow them to strike portions of the bill before signing it, and Congress authorized it several years ago. President Clinton was the first to have this authority, but the Supreme Court later ruled that the separation of powers doctrine forbids the President to veto only portions of a bill.

Some states allow their governors to perform line-item vetos, with mixed results. In one instance, a governor vetoed individual words and even individual letters and spaces in order to completely change the meaning of a bill from what the legislature had approved. As I recall, the courts invalidated his actions.