 Following his departure from Congress, Orton resumed the practice of law and was a member of the legal counsel of the plaintiff in "Idaho Potato Growers v. Rubin", a case "Clinton v. City of New York" in which the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 was ruled unconstitutional.While serving in congress, Orton argued on the floor of the US House of Representatives that, as a "budget hawk", he was in favor of the President having the line item veto.However, the version that the Republican-controlled Congress brought up for a vote was written in an unconstitutional manner.