## Facts

- Congress passed S. 3418, the Family Practice of Medicine Act, by overwhelming majorities in both chambers in fall 1970.
- The bill was presented to the President on December 14, 1970.
- Both Houses adjourned for a Christmas recess beginning December 22, 1970, with the Senate authorizing the Secretary of the Senate to receive presidential messages during the adjournment.
- On December 24, 1970, the President issued a memorandum stating he would withhold his signature from the bill but did not return the bill with objections to the originating House.
- The executive branch treated the bill as pocket-vetoed and did not publish it as law.
- Senator Edward M. Kennedy sued executive officials, seeking a declaration that the bill became law on December 25, 1970 (ten-day period after presentment, excluding Sundays) and an order compelling publication under federal publication statutes.
- The district court granted summary judgment for Kennedy, declaring the bill became law and that defendants had a ministerial, nondiscretionary duty to publish; the government appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a United States senator had Article III standing to challenge the executive branch’s treatment of a passed bill as pocket-vetoed and its refusal to publish the bill as law.
2. Whether an intrasession adjournment during which Congress arranged for receipt of presidential messages “prevent[ed]” return of the bill under Article I, § 7, thus permitting a pocket veto.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Kennedy.
- The court held Kennedy had standing because the executive’s asserted pocket veto allegedly nullified or diluted his legislative vote and impaired his effectiveness as a legislator.
- The court held the bill became law on December 25, 1970 because Congress’s intrasession adjournment did not prevent return of the bill where Congress had provided for receipt of presidential messages through designated agents.
- The court agreed that, because the bill was law, the responsible executive officials had a ministerial, nondiscretionary duty to publish it.

## Legal Principles

- Legislator standing may exist where executive action allegedly nullifies or materially impairs a member’s vote or effectiveness in the legislative process, and the injury is traceable to the challenged conduct and redressable by declaratory or mandatory relief.
- Under Article I, § 7, a bill becomes law if the President neither signs nor returns it with objections within ten days (excluding Sundays), unless Congress’s adjournment actually prevents return.
- The “prevent its Return” clause is applied functionally; an intrasession adjournment does not support a pocket veto when Congress remains able to receive a veto message through duly authorized agents.
- Once a bill is determined to have become law, executive officials charged by statute with handling and publishing enacted laws have a ministerial obligation to treat it as law and publish it.

## Conclusion

The court held that an individual senator could sue to vindicate an alleged nullification of his legislative vote and that the President could not pocket-veto a bill during an intrasession adjournment when Congress had arranged to receive veto messages; because the bill became law by operation of Article I, § 7, executive officials were required to publish it.


Kennedy v. Sampson, 511 F.2d 430 (D.C. Cir. 1974)