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 Constitution treats the two veto procedures as mutually exclusive. Presidents may not blend or combine the two actions by claiming that they are exercising a pocket veto, but then returning the bill to Congress.