 |
By The RepresentUs Team March 3, 2025 |
What is an Executive Order?
An executive order is a written directive signed by the president that tells the federal government how to operate. Executive orders can be as small as giving federal employees a day off or as big as shaping national policy. They don’t require approval from Congress and they aren’t as powerful as a law, but they are an important tool for shaping policy or communicating political priorities.
Presidents have used executive orders to push through major policy changes, from immigration rules to workplace regulations. But they can also be controversial—when a president can’t pass legislation the usual way, executive orders can become a way to get around gridlock. That means they can often get challenged in court, reversed by the next administration, or attacked by Congress.
Where Does the Authority for Executive Orders Come From?
Executive orders are one of the most powerful tools at the disposal of a president. Article II of the Constitution says the president must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." In other words, the president can use executive orders to clarify how federal agencies should enforce and implement existing laws—but they can’t create brand-new laws out of thin air.
The Supreme Court, in the case Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, has backed this up, saying that executive orders must be rooted in either the Constitution or an act of Congress. If a president oversteps, Congress or the courts can step in.
This authority allows the president to execute powers they already have, but executive orders cannot be used to give the president new powers.
What are the Checks and Balances on Executive Orders?
The president isn’t a king, and executive orders aren’t absolute. Our Constitution has a set of checks and balances to keep any one branch from becoming too powerful.
Here’s how the other branches can check executive orders:
- Congress fights back: Executive orders don’t need Congressional approval and thus can’t be directly overturned by Congress, but if Congress doesn’t like an executive order, they can pass legislation to remove its funding or create other hurdles to its implementation.
- The courts step in: If an order violates the Constitution or existing laws, courts can strike it down.
- The next president hits undo: Subsequent presidents can erase executive orders from their predecessors with a stroke of a pen, making them a short-term fix for long-term issues. As we saw recently, President Trump rescinded 78 executive orders signed by President Biden—some of which had originally reversed Trump’s own executive orders from his first term.
Some executive orders take effect immediately, but others require government agencies to draft new regulations or reports first. That process can take months or even years—giving plenty of time for opposition to mount and derail an order before it really kicks in.
At the end of the day, executive orders are a powerful tool—but they’re not unstoppable. Presidents might use them when they can’t get Congress to act, but those orders still have to play by the rules of the Constitution.
How Are Executive Orders Different from Laws?
Laws are passed by Congress and signed by the president while executive orders don’t need approval from Congress. That means a president can issue an order faster than Congress can pass a bill, but that order doesn’t carry the same weight as a law.
Laws set the rules of the game—like tax rates, criminal penalties, and war declarations. Executive orders tell federal agencies how to enforce those laws. For example, Congress can pass a law making a drug illegal, but a president can issue an executive order directing law enforcement to focus (or not focus) on certain drug prosecutions.
Because they don’t go through Congress, executive orders are easier to reverse. They can be struck down by courts, blocked by Congress through funding restrictions, or wiped away by the next president with a new order.
(In)Famous Executive Orders
- The First Executive Order: George Washington issued the very first executive order to the heads of the federal departments saying to “impress me with a full, precise, and distinct general idea of the affairs of the United States”.
- Emancipation Proclamation: On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order declaring that slaves in all Confederate states were now free.
- Manhattan Project: President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8807 to create a new agency (Office of Scientific Research and Development) that would research defense technology. Ultimately, this new agency ended up creating the nuclear weapons program known as the Manhattan Project.
- Incarceration of Japanese Americans: After the attack at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 which forcibly moved more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans into concentration camps.
- Desegregating the Military: Executive Order 9981 issued by President Harry Truman abolished discrimination "on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin" in the United States Armed Forces, a big step forward in the Civil Rights Movement.
- Desegregating Schools: After certain schools refused to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education to desegregate schools, President Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10730 which federalized the Arkansas National Guard and ordered them to support the integration.
- Muslim Ban: President Trump’s Executive Order 13769 which dealt with lowering or suspending refugee entry into the U.S. from specific countries became known as the Muslim Ban.
Which presidents have issued the most executive orders?
Source: The American Presidency Project
How We Can Hold the President Accountable
Our democracy works best when our system of checks and balances functions as the Constitution intends it to.
In recent years, however, because of issues like political polarization, gerrymandering, and big money corruption leading to political gridlock, Congress has become increasingly less productive.
Congress plays a crucial role in checking presidential power. When it fails to assert itself through oversight and legislation, presidents may seize opportunities to overstep their authority and act without accountability.
That’s why we’re building a nationwide movement to hold our politicians and government accountable to the needs of the American people. Sign up with us and find out how you can get involved.