Prominent in the field of administrative law and constitutional law, a legislative veto is a provision that allows a congressional resolution (passed by a majority of Congress, but not signed by the President) to nullify a rulemaking or other action taken by an executive agency. Beginning in the 1970’s in the wake of the massive expansion of the administrative state, legislative veto provisions became relatively common and accompanied many congressional delegations of power to administrative agencies (e.g. Congress would give the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) power to regulate immigration, but retain the power to overrule any of their decisions by legislative veto). However, the legislative veto was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in INS v. Chadha (1983).
The Chadha Court ruled that legislation providing Congress with a one-house veto over an action of the Executive Branch is unconstitutional because it does not meet the constitutional requirements of presentment and bicameralism contained in Article I Sec. 7 of the Constitution, which stipulates that all legislation be presented to the President before becoming law. The requirements of presentment and bicameralism under Article I do not apply to every action taken by either house of Congress; rather, they apply only to an exercise of legislative power.
[Last updated in June of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]