Toward a New Typology of Vetoes and Overrides

Abstract

This research develops a typology of vetoes and overrides based on the nature of the coalition that originally passed the legislation. We posit that both legislative and non-legislative objectives inform the strategies of the President and congressional leaders. The implications for measures of presidential and congressional power are considerable. Using veto and override data for the period 1969-98, we show that vote-switching between the passage of legislation and veto overrides is likely to occur only for a specific subset of legislation.