Supreme Emergency
On this day (Aug 11) in 1997 President Clinton used the line-item veto for the first time to cut three measures from an expansive spending and taxation bill. At the bill's signing ceremony, Clinton declared "From now on, presidents will be able to say 'no' to wasteful spending or tax loopholes, even as they say 'yes' to vital legislation." Groups upset by the action immediately filed suit and on June 25, 1998 the Supreme Court overturned the Line Item Veto – pointing out that the constitution did not give authority to the Executive Branch to amend legislation. The court specifically held the line-item veto violated the principles of the "separation of powers" between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government. On July 26, 2019 the Supreme Court lifted an injunction against the border wall spending that had been imposed by a federal district court judge in California and affirmed by a federal appeals