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Case study: Birthright Citizenship & the Power of Federal Courts to Issue Nationwide Injunctions, May 2025
A formal implied power.
A formal implied power.
An Executive Order is a formal power - although only implied by the constitution rather than explicitly enumerated. It is a written order issued by the president to the federal government which does not require congressional approval.
Orders range from dramatic reverses of policy, like Mr Trump's approval for the construction of two bitterly contested oil pipelines, to ordinary business, such as Mr Obama's instructions on half-day closing for government departments on Christmas Eve 2015.
Authority for issuing the orders is rooted in Article II of the US constitution, which states: "The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America.
Presidents can also issue signing statements, which
explain that a president agrees to the bill but will not enforce certain provisions, arguing that they are unconstitutional, for example. This effectively acts as a line-item veto in which a president rejects part of a bill only.
Many of these executive orders can be traced directly to an Act of Congress, with the president issuing instructions to ensure these laws are carried out. In theory this is a legitimate tool under the Constitution and many executive orders are uncontroversial.
Example : Biden signs executive order making sexual harassment an offense in military's judicial code
The use of executive orders to bypass Congress has increased
President Biden signed seventeen executive orders on his first day in office, January 20, 2021, including orders to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and revoke the Keystone XL pipeline permit.
President Trump a record number of executive orders, including the travel ban January 27, 2017) and the redirection of funds for a border wall (February 15, 2019). These actions exemplify how presidents use executive orders to bypass the legislative process and implement policies unilaterally. Link Unitary Executive Theory
Which president issued the most executive orders?
Which president issued the most executive orders?
Franklin D Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the US, issued the most executive orders during his 12-year presidency (1933-45). He issued 3,721 orders, averaging about 308 orders a year.
He was followed by Woodrow Wilson (1,803 orders), Calvin Coolidge (1,203), Theodore Roosevelt (1,081) and Harry S Truman (907).
Recent presidents, including Obama (276 orders), Trump (220 orders during his first term from 2017-21) and Joe Biden (160 orders), had much lower averages.
Trump sets a new record in 2025
Trump sets a new record in 2025
Some mostly express the president’s sentiment on an issue. Some function as warnings or punishments for political enemies. But many — in key areas like immigration and tariffs — effectively carry the force of law. The near daily release of orders contrast with one of the least active legisaticve beginning to a president term in history. Congress has passed only a handful of laws since Trump’s second inauguration.
On his first day in office, Trump signed a record 26 executive orders which was the beginning of a record breaking number of executive orders. The executive order has become Trump's governing style, and a way to deliver policy directives without the bureaucracy of regulation or the horse trading with Congress.
Some orders direct federal agencies to develop policy in particular areas, like oil drilling, prescription drug prices or the water pressure delivered by shower heads.
However, there are limitations on these powers.
However, there are limitations on these powers.
· The president has to show that their use is directing the executive branch in a manner that does not fall under the legislative role of Congress. This can and has been reviewed by the courts. While the vast majority of executive orders remain intact, some are blocked, as the 2016 case study below shows.
· There can be strong public and congressional outcry — and presidents have to be mindful of their popularity if they are to maintain power. Excessive use of executive orders may actually undermine a president's ability to make deals with Congress.
Obama created two schemes using executive orders:
· Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which let undocumented immigrants to the United States who entered the country before their 16th birthday be exempt from deportation.
· Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), which gave a right-to-remain to people who entered the US before 2010 and have children who are either American citizens or lawful permanent residents.
The scope of these executive orders was broad, and Congress had already rejected Obama's requests for comprehensive immigration reform in both his first and second term. As such theseorders undermined traditional constitutional relations and allowed the president to achieve his policy goals while ignoring Congress.
Obama's attempted extension of DACA was blocked by the courts in 2016 with a 4-4 divided court effectively upholding the block imposed by a lower court ruling.
An executive order has to work within the confines of the law, with, in theory, each one "reviewed by the Office of Legal Counsel for form and legality". This does not always happen.
If an order is deemed to stray outside the boundaries of what is acceptable, it can be subject to a legal review.
Congress can also pass a law to override the executive order, but a president still has a veto over that law.
, Presidents Trump and Biden both had executive orders overturned by the court for example Biden’s vaccine mandate was overturned.
Case study: Birthright Citizenship & the Power of Federal Courts to Issue Nationwide Injunctions may 2025
In 2017, President Trump issued an executive order banning immigration from seven countries, arguing that this would limit terrorist threats to the US. There have been many conflicts within the executive branch over this issue. President Trump dismissed a member of Cabinet, the US Attorney General Sally Yates, after she challenged his immigration ban. Yates, appointed by Barack Obama, instructed Justice Department lawyers not to enforce the president's executive order. Trump apparently sidelined the Defense and Homeland Security Departments when deciding to create an executive order, with members of EXOP secretly consulting staffers on the House Judiciary committee to help create it. The order was signed by Trump with Secretary of Defense James Mattis, standing at Trump's shoulder at the Pentagon, even though the Defense Department was not consulted on its contents. The executive order was halted by a federal judge after it was challenged over concerns regarding religious discrimination as well as green-card holders who already have a legal right to enter the US.
2019 Trump used Executive Orders to invoke emergency powers by declaring a national emergency on the Mexican border- this will allow him to spend money that Congress had denied him, to build a wall.
Executive Order 13990, officially titled Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis is an executive order signed by President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, which implements various environmental policies of his administration including revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline and temporarily prohibiting drilling in the arctic refuge.
Some of Biden's Executive Orders
Some of Biden's Executive Orders
In 2024, tech companies must give detailed reports on advanced AI projects to the Commerce Department.
In 2023, an executive order aimed to lower childcare and senior care expenses, leading government agencies to take over fifty actions to cut costs for families.
In 2022, President Biden canceled $10,000 of student debt for individuals earning less than $125,000 annually, but this decision faced legal challenges in the Supreme Court case Nebraska v Biden in 2023.
In 2021, a COVID-19 vaccine mandate required that workers at large companies be vaccinated, but the Supreme Court ruled against it in NFIB v Department of Labor
For gun control in 2023, regulations increased around background checks, requiring more sellers to perform criminal checks on buyers. Biden stated that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 allowed him to implement this change.
In 2022, measures were introduced to restrict guns, including rules to limit the spread of ‘ghost guns’, which are untraceable homemade firearms.
On rights, in 2022, the Department of State created a group to quickly address international violations of LGBTQ+ rights.
In 2021, the ban on transgender Americans serving in the military was reversed.
Some of Trump’s executive orders, particularly those focused on the economy, will require legislation since Congress holds the purse strings.
Though Trump inherits a Republican House and Senate, their majorities are marginal, and moderate party dissenters may frustrate his agenda. Even so, he will undoubtedly use all available legal authority to unilaterally transform his goals into government policy.
But then again, these directives may be undone by the courts – or by the next president with the stroke of a pen.
October 2025 a case challenging the legality of Trump’s trade tariffs reached the US Supreme Court. The tariffs were levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which empowers the president to declare a national emergency over an ‘unusual and extraordinary’ foreign threat and respond with a range of actions, including sanctions and the freezing of funds. This is an example of Executive orders based on existing legislation.
Trump uses Executive Orders to enhance Big Government, assert conservative ideology and reward donors. 2026
Trump uses Executive Orders to enhance Big Government, assert conservative ideology and reward donors. 2026
In 2025 and 2026, Donald Trump’s second administration has utilised executive orders to pivot national AI strategy toward a deregulatory, "innovation-first" framework, primarily aiming to centralise authority and dismantle state-level regulations .
In July 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14319, titled "Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government," to ensure that AI models used by federal agencies prioritize truthfulness and ideological neutrality over social agendas. This anti woke agenda is widely seen as a restriction on free speech since asserting that there is human caused climate change or that America has a history of racism all the gender is a complex issue are all considered woke and therefore should not be expressed.
Ensuring a National Policy Framework for AI (Dec 2025): The most significant order of his second term, this seeks to "neuter" state-level AI laws (such as those in Colorado and California) to prevent a "patchwork" of regulations.
Trump has shifted the regulation of artificial intelligence into federal hands, limiting how individual states can create their own rules. The order directs federal agencies to develop national AI standards and makes it clear that state-level regulations shouldn’t interfere. The reasoning is speed and clarity—AI is evolving fast, and the White House argues that 50 different approaches would slow innovation and harm the U.S. economy. Critics point out that federal rules tend to favor big AI companies over state governments or individual citizens, as national standards are cheaper and easier for large firms to follow. Businesses operating nationwide can adjust once instead of tailoring systems for each state. It’s also notable that executives and political action committees from major tech companies, particularly in the field of AI, have donated millions to Republican campaigns, including those associated with Trump. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a vocal Trump supporter, is among them. The order centralises power in the presidency and bypasses congressional scrutiny, as executive orders don’t require it. Future presidents can easily reverse such orders, highlighting the informal powers of the office and the long-standing trend of the federal government encroaching on states’ independent authority.
Can Trump control vaccines in the United States with an executive order?
On 10 August 2026, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14407—dubbed the "Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations" order—aiming to dramatically reduce routinely recommended childhood immunizations and give parents greater autonomy. The order, designed in coordination with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., represents a major shift toward limiting federal vaccine recommendations. As an executive order, it is not legislation and therefore cannot compel states to comply.Despite the sweeping directives, health policy experts and medical organizations note several immediate barriers to the order's execution:
Separated MMR Shots
Currently Impossible. There are no standalone individual vaccines for measles, mumps, or rubella licensed or available in the US. Manufacturers state an overhaul would take up to 10 years and cost tens of millions.
Doctor's Office Visits
Increased Burden. Splitting the MMR vaccine and spacing out others would multiply necessary pediatric visits, requiring six visits for MMR immunity alone.
Legal Authority
Not Legally Binding. Neither the White House nor the FDA can force private pharmaceutical drugmakers to manufacture separated vaccines.
Trump has signed an executive order seeking to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. What difference does it make?
27 August 2026
The move comes after trade talks between the US and Canada collapsed last week, and the US imposed new 50% tariffs on $20bn (C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods. Canada will implement "dollar for dollar" counter-tariffs next month.
Trump said the renaming of the lake, which straddles both countries, was effective immediately. He has broad discretion over how the US recognises landmarks but other countries do not have to follow.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in response that "things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario - today and forever".
The executive order gives the US Department of the Interior 30 days to update the name change with the Geographic Names Information Service - the official repository of domestic geographic names in the US.
President Trump's executive order, changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, illustrates the personal nature of executive orders and their limits.An executive order can be an immediate expression of a president's whim, based on frustration or reaction; in this case, it expresses annoyance with Canada.The manifest absurdity of the idea reveals its limits, since an executive order is merely a directive for his administration to make administrative changes. In this case, some names will change on a few documents, perhaps some official maps, but Lake Ontario will almost certainly remain Lake Ontario.Trump actually believed that Lake Ontario would be widely understood as Lake America. It is more likely he’s simply trying to capture headlines, divert attention from rising inflation, the affordability crisis, his own massively declining popularity, and a war in Iran that he can’t seem to end. In that sense, it’s an act of politics, a statement of insecurity, frustration, and banality.
However, because the American government is powerful and far-reaching, not all executive orders are so pointless.For example, Trump's executive orders cutting off funding to UN agencies will cost human lives, particularly in Africa.
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