The so-called “protective return pocket veto,” exercised by President George W. Bush in 2007 against a Defense authorization bill, was facially unconstitutional, as the protective return veto combines two mutually exclusive actions: the regular or return veto, and the pocket veto. The...

Recent presidents have carved out a presidential power by asserted constitutional right allegedly adhering to the presidency in the form of the so-called "protective return" pocket veto, by which presidents claim to pocket veto a bill - a circumstance where, by definition, bill return to...