There are smart people here and a number of attorneys, so please tell me what status an "Executive Order" carries in our system of government. Can it be interpreted as "law"? I thought only Congress could pass laws. Is it a "suggestion" from the POTUS?

It seems particularly relevant these days.

Thanks,

RMD

https://www.phe.gov/s3/law/Pag...d%20earlier%20orders.

Executive Orders
Executive Orders are issued by the White House and are used to direct the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. Executive Orders state mandatory requirements for the Executive Branch, and have the effect of law. They are issued in relation to a law passed by Congress or based on powers granted to the President in the Constitution and must be consistent with those authorities. Executive Orders are given numbers and abbreviated as “EO XXXXX”. Executive Orders are numbered in ascending order, so a higher number means the order was given more recently. Executive Orders may amend earlier orders.

So essentially they modify existing law, have the power of law, but aren't the law.

In a nutshell, part of the President's duties is to be the "CEO" of the Executive Branch of the federal government. Think of an Executive Order as a mandatory directive from their boss to the agencies in the Executive Branch on how they will handle a particular situation or carry out a particular task.

It's not a law, and doesn't itself put any specific requirement on citizens, but it can often result in Executive Branch federal agencies enacting agency rules or handling situations in a specific way that impacts citizens, and can affect how an agency applies an existing law.

And while they can't be used like a law to force states/cities/etc. to act in a certain way, they can use the carrot/stick of federal spending to strongly encourage compliance. For example, an Executive Order cannot make a decree that "All states must have blue painted roads". That would require a law. However, an Executive Order could state something like "No Executive Branch federal agency shall approve federal grants, relief funds, or other budgetary assistance for any state whose roads are not painted blue". Thus heavily incentivizing states to comply and paint their roads blue.

What if a President issued an executive order that all citizens had 25 days to turn over their gold to the government or face 10 years in prison and a $10,00.00 fine? What? That is crazy!

Executive order 6102.

Was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Generally, I see them as administrative in nature. They are laws, but only administratively as the President does not have the powers of Congress to pass laws, just approve them.

With that said, I work with and know a lot of people in Govt who ignore them as many come and go with the wind and it takes nothing to put them off for 4 years. That's part of the beauty of bureaucracy and the WARP speed of Govt.

They are administrative rules for an enormous bureaucracy. Speed of implementation isn’t a bureaucracy’s forte and I imagine whether or not the bureacrats like the person writing the executive order greatly affects speed of implementation.

So, given the above responses (and thank you for them), Biden signs an EO for assault weapons turn-in tomorrow (God help them figure out how to define them.).

It may well never be acted upon beyond the fact that it makes the dems feel good as they have "done something"?

RMD

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
So, given the above responses (and thank you for them), Biden signs an EO for assault weapons turn-in tomorrow (God help them figure out how to define them.).

It may well never be acted upon beyond the fact that it makes the dems feel good as they have "done something"?

RMD

Virtually an impossibility. That is to say the doddering old fool can make any executive order he wants, but something like this is so fraught with overreach that even the most rabid leftist knows it would be laughed out of any court or state. It’s the reason it hasn’t been attempted already.

Only a matter of time before this becomes a lawless nation...might as well kickstart the anarchy.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
https://www.phe.gov/s3/law/Pag...d%20earlier%20orders
Executive Orders
.. Executive Orders may amend earlier orders.

You'd think that, but some dolts in robes disagreed: Supreme Court overturns Trump's revocation of Obama's DACA Executive Order

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
https://www.phe.gov/s3/law/Pag...d%20earlier%20orders
Executive Orders
.. Executive Orders may amend earlier orders.

You'd think that, but some dolts in robes disagreed: Supreme Court overturns Trump's revocation of Obama's DACA Executive Order

I have to agree. The Supremes, far from being the bastion of conservatism we thought Trump had laid out, are shockingly liberal at times.

However, I think even they might find such an order difficult. The agencies empowered might find such an order impossible.

RMD

Executive orders can't make law, but they are intended to instruct federal agencies on how to interpret and enforce existing law.

More and more, presidents of both parties have used executive orders in the past few decades, up to and over the line of "making law."

Laws can, and are, passed that give the executive branch leeway to make decisions that have the force of law. This power can be invested in bureaucracies created under the law (think IRS, ATF, FDA, ETC.). They can be given tot he president who can either decide directly or delegate the responsibility. But there has to be an authorizing law passed by Congress.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Executive orders can't make law, but they are intended to instruct federal agencies on how to interpret and enforce existing law.

More and more, presidents of both parties have used executive orders in the past few decades, up to and over the line of "making law."

Too many and too often. This has been the Ex branch's method of circumventing passed law IMO. Until aggrieved parties file suit to challenge them, they stand. And the bureaucrats have their marching orders to stand on the neck of the taxpayer.