{"id":38575,"date":"2025-01-20T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=38575"},"modified":"2025-01-21T05:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T05:27:21","slug":"trumps-executive-orders-can-make-change-but-are-limited-and-can-be-undone-by-the-courts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/trumps-executive-orders-can-make-change-but-are-limited-and-can-be-undone-by-the-courts\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s executive orders can make change \u2013 but are limited and can be undone by the courts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sharece Thrower<\/a>, Vanderbilt University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before his inauguration, Donald Trump promised to issue a total of 100 or so executive orders<\/a> once he regained the presidency. These orders are expected to reset government policy on everything from immigration enforcement to diversity initiatives to environmental regulation. They also aim to undo much of Joe Biden\u2019s presidential legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is not the first U.S. president to issue an executive order, and he certainly won\u2019t be the last. My own research<\/a> shows executive orders have been a mainstay in American politics \u2013 with limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is an executive order?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though the Constitution plainly articulates familiar presidential tools like vetoes and appointments, the real executive power comes from reading between the lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidents have long interpreted the Constitution\u2019s Article 2 clauses<\/a> \u2013 like \u201cthe executive power shall be vested in a President\u201d and \u201che shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed\u201d \u2013 to give them total authority to enforce the law through the executive branch, by any means necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One leading way they do that is through executive orders, which are presidential written directives to agencies on how to implement the law. The courts view them as legally valid unless they violate the Constitution or existing statutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Executive orders, like other unilateral actions, allow presidents to make policy outside of the regular lawmaking process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leaves Congress, notoriously polarized and gridlocked, to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, executive orders are unilateral actions that give presidents several advantages, allowing them to move first and act alone<\/a> in policymaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How have they historically been used?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every U.S. president has issued executive orders since they were first systematically cataloged in 1905.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March of 2016, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized<\/a> President Obama\u2019s use of executive orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExecutive orders sort of came about more recently. Nobody ever heard of an executive order. Then all of a sudden Obama \u2013 because he couldn\u2019t get anybody to agree with him \u2013 he starts signing them like they\u2019re butter,\u201d Trump said<\/a>. \u201cSo I want to do away with executive orders for the most part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little in this statement is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obama signed fewer orders than his predecessors \u2013 averaging 35 per year. Trump issued an average of 55 per year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against conventional wisdom, presidents have relied less on executive orders over time. Indeed, modern presidents used drastically fewer orders per year \u2013 an average of 59 \u2013 than their pre-World War II counterparts, who averaged 314.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Executive orders have been used for everything from routine federal workplace policies<\/a> like ethics pledges to the controversial 2017 travel ban<\/a> restricting entry into the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have been used to manage public lands<\/a>, the economy<\/a>, the civil service and federal contractors<\/a>, and to respond to various crises such as the Iran hostage situation<\/a> and the COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presidents often use them to advance their biggest agenda items, by creating task forces or policy initiatives<\/a> and directing rulemaking<\/a>, the process for formally translating laws into codified policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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