Republicans/conservatives/tea partiers delight in criticizing President Obama for using any of the many tools at his disposal when doing his job. The latest favorite is the Executive Order. Once again, they exploit the public’s civic and political illiteracy to spread their lies. Executive Orders are not laws. Presidents don't make laws. Congress does. They imply that the orders are unconstitutional, yet they didn’t have that problem with any orders issued by Republican presidents.
Executive Orders are constitutionally valid. The president is the head of the executive branch of government. The executive branch manages the country's daily business through the 15 cabinet departments:
- Department of State
- Department of the Treasury
- Department of Defense
- Department of Justice
- Department of the Interior
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Labor
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Energy
- Department of Education
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Homeland Security
and the six cabinet-level offices:
- White House Chief of Staff
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Office of Management & Budget
- United States Trade Representative
- United States Ambassador to the United Nations
- Council of Economic Advisers
A president issues executive orders to give specific instructions to his employees for doing their jobs. It is covered in the constitution under Article II, Section 1, Clause 1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. Each order’s preamble states his specific legal authority for the subject of the order. And every president has issued Executive Orders. Governors and mayors also issue Executive Orders to their staffs.
To date, President Obama has issued 64 Executive Orders. All US presidents combined have issued a total of 13,553 orders. That’s an average of about 308 orders per president. President Herbert Hoover - a Republican - holds the record at 1,011.
You can see a table of orders issued by president here.
You can read the full text of Executive Orders at the White House website and in the Federal Register, a daily record of all executive branch actions.
For more information:
- President Obama’s Executive Orders
- The National Archives: Executive Orders FAQs
- The president’s cabinet
- The Federal Register
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Comments
Executive orders is lawmaking. The legislative branch is responsible for making the law. This article is without basis. Slavery was perpetrated for a long time and that didn't make it right.
Let's also not forget that FDR used an executive order to intern American citizens of Japanese heritage in concentration camps during World War II. Executive orders are dictatorial and thus a threat to a free society.
You are not qualified to comment on this topic because you haven't bothered to READ the Constitution.
And I certainly DID NOT say that I agree with every EO.
I merely said that they principle is legal.
You didn't bother to read MY entire article either.
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