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Encyclopedia > Executive order

An executive order is an edict issued by a member of the executive branch of a government, usually the head of that branch. Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... An edict is an announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism. ... The executive is the branch of a government charged with implementing, or executing, the law and running the day-to-day affairs of the government or state. ...


The term is mostly used by the United States Government. In other countries, similar edicts may be known as decrees, or orders-in-council. The government of the United States, established by the United States Constitution, is a federal republic of 50 states, a few territories and some protectorates. ... Decree is an order that has the force of law. ... An Order-in-Council is an executive order issued in Commonwealth Realms operating under the Westminster system. ...

Contents

U.S.

U.S. Presidential usage

Presidents of the United States have issued executive orders since 1789. There is no United States Constitution provision or statute that explicitly permits this, aside from the vague grant of "executive power" given in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution and the statement "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" in Article II, Section 3. The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Article Two of the United States Constitution Article Two of the United States Constitution creates the executive branch of the government, comprising the President and other executive officers. ...


Most executive orders are orders issued by the President to United States executive officers to help direct their operation, the result of failing to comply being removal from office. Some orders do have the force of law when made in pursuance of certain Acts of Congress due to those acts giving the President discretionary powers. Congress in Joint Session. ...


Other types of executive orders are:

Presidential directives are a form of executive order issued by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the National Security Council. ... Presidential directives are a form of executive order issued by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the National Security Council. ... Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ...

History in the United States

Until the early 1900s, executive orders went mostly unannounced and undocumented, seen only by the agencies to which they were directed. Others have simply been lost due to natural decay and poor record keeping. However, the State Department instituted a numbering system for executive orders in the early 1900s, starting retroactively with President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. Today, only National Security Directives are kept from the public. // First flight by the Wright brothers, December 17, 1903. ... The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States Government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ... There are many different numbering schemes for assigning numbers to entities. ... Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), sometimes called Abe Lincoln and nicknamed Honest Abe, the Rail Splitter, and the Great Emancipator, was an American politician who served as the 16th President of the United States (1861 to 1865), and the first president from the Republican Party. ... The Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, which declared the freedom of all slaves in those areas of the rebellious Confederate States of America that had not already returned to Union control. ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Categories: Stub ...


Until the 1950s, there were no rules or guidelines outlining what the president could or could not do through an executive order. However, the Supreme Court ruled in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 that Executive Order 10340 from President Harry S. Truman placing all steel mills in the country under federal control was invalid because it attempted to make law, rather than clarify or act to further a law put forth by the Congress or the Constitution. Presidents since this decision have generally been careful to cite which specific laws they are acting under when issuing new executive orders. The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st of December, 1959. ... The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. ... Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 — December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ...


Criticism

Critics accuse presidents of abusing executive orders, of using them to make laws without Congressional approval, and of moving existing laws away from their original mandates. Large policy changes with wide-ranging effects have been effected through executive order, including the integration of the Armed Forces under Harry Truman and the desegregation of public schools under Dwight D. Eisenhower. Children at a parade in North College Hill, Ohio Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). ... The military of the United States, officially known as the United States Armed Forces, is structured into five branches consisting of the: United States Army United States Navy United States Marine Corps United States Air Force United States Coast Guard; these comprise five of the seven United States Uniformed Services. ... Desegregation is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. ... Eisenhower redirects here. ...


One extreme example of an executive order is Executive Order 9066, where President Franklin Roosevelt delegated military authority to remove all people (used to target specifically Japanese-Americans and German-Americans) in a military zone. The authority delegated to John DeWitt subsequently paved the way for all Japanese-Americans on the West coast to be sent to internment camps for the duration of World War II. Thousands of German-Americans and Italian-Americans were also sent to internment camps under executive order. United States Executive Order 9066 was a presidential executive order issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, using his authority as Commander-in-Chief to exercise war powers to send ethnic groups to internment camps. ... FDR redirects here. ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ...


Executive Order 13233, which restricted public access to information was more recently criticised by the Society of American Archivists and other groups, stating that it "violates both the spirit and letter of existing U.S. law on access to presidential papers as clearly laid down in 44 U.S.C. 2201-2207," and adding that the order "potentially threatens to undermine one of the very foundations of our nation." Executive Order 13233, restricting access to the records of former presidents and drafted by White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, was issued by President George W. Bush on November 1, 2001 shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. ... The Society of American Archivists (established 1936) is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 3,400 individual and institutional members. ...


Wars have been fought upon executive order, including the 1999 Kosovo War during Bill Clinton's second term in office. However, all such wars have had authorizing resolutions from Congress. The extent to which the president may exercise military power independently of Congress and the scope of the War Powers Resolution remain unresolved constitutional issues in the United States therein. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The term Kosovo War or Kosovo Conflict is often used to describe two sequential and at times parallel armed conflicts (a civil war followed by an international war) in the southern Serbian province called Kosovo (officially Kosovo and Metohia), part of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... The War Powers Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-148) limits the power of the President of the United States to wage war without the approval of Congress. ...


Critics fear that the president could make himself a de facto dictator by side-stepping the other branches of government and making autocratic laws. The Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben in particular has criticized the generalization since World War I of the use of executive orders or decrees by all Western democracies, declaring that this tends toward the constitution of a "permanent state of exception." The presidents, however, cite executive order as often the only way to clarify laws passed through the Congress, laws which often require vague wording in order to please all political parties involved in their creation. World dictatorships. ... Giorgio Agamben (born 1942) is an Italian philosopher who teaches at the Università IUAV di Venezia. ... The term Western World or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ... ... // Political scientists have developed concepts of different ideal types of political parties in order to better compare them with each other. ...


Legal conflicts

To date, U.S. courts have overturned only two executive orders: the aforementioned Truman order, and a 1996 order issued by President Bill Clinton that attempted to prevent the U.S. government from contracting with organizations that had strike-breakers on the payroll. [1] Congress may overturn an executive order by passing legislation in conflict with it or by refusing to approve funding to enforce it. In the former, the president retains the power to veto such a decision; however, the Congress may override a veto with a two-thirds majority to end an executive order. It has been argued that a Congressional override of an executive order is a nearly impossible event due to the super majority vote required and the fact that such a vote leaves individual lawmakers very vulnerable to political criticism. [2] 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... See also general strike, or for other uses see: strike (disambiguation). ... The word veto comes from Latin and literally means I forbid. ...


The precedent in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States might be of some relevance. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress cannot give the president power to create laws, so it would follow that an executive order in restraint of a law, not enforcing, would be beyond the president's power. Holding Section 3 of the National Industrial Recovery Act was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the Executive, and was not a valid exercise of congressional Commerce Clause power. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ...


See also

The following is a partial list of United States federal executive orders. ...

Further Reading

Howell, William G., Power without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action, Princeton University Press, 2003.


Mayer, Kenneth R, With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power, Princeton University Press, 2002.


Warber, Adam L., Executive Orders and the Modern Presidency: Legislating from the Oval Office, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006.


Citations

  1. ^ Catherine Edwards, “Emergency Rule, Abuse of Power?”, Insight on the News, August 23, 1999, Pg. 18
  2. ^ Harold Hongju Koh, The National Security Constitution: Sharing Power after the Iran-Contra Affair, 1990, pg. 118-9

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
State of New Jersey - Executive Orders (5097 words)
Orders and directs the flag of the United States of America and the flag of New Jersey shall be flown at half-staff at all State departments, offices, agencies and instrumentalities during appropriate hours on Saturday, March 25, 2006, in recognition of the life and in mourning of the passing of U.S. Army SPC Carlos Gonzalez.
Orders and directs the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of New Jersey shall be flown at half-staff at all State departments, offices, agencies and instrumentalities during appropriate hours on Wednesday, October 26, 2005, in recognition and mourning of the passing of Assemblyman Tucker.
Orders and directs the flag of the United States of America and the flag of the State of New Jersey shall be flown at half-staff at all State departments, offices, agencies and instrumentalities during appropriate hours on Tuesday, November 1, 2005, in recognition and mourning of the passing of Rosa Parks.
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