President Trump’s first week in office was marked by dozens of Executive Orders (EOs.) The first order he signed reversed 78 of Biden Administration policies largely dealing with enforcement of immigration law and energy policy. This was in response to Joe Biden scores of Executive Orders reversing President Trump’s policies in his first term.
Executive Orders are intended to be administrative instructions that enable the Executive Branch to enforce laws passed by Congress. They are directives from the President that have much the same power as a law passed through the legislative process. Congress can pass a law addressing a presidential EO and override it. In recent years, it seems the number of EOs have proliferated. But, that’s not necessarily the case. The subject matter and wording of these EOs have increasingly taken the appearance of legislation – especially in the Biden Administration – and this has blurred the line between Article I and Article II jurisdiction.
In order to maintain a civil society a relatively stable system of laws must exist. Executive Orders, when used outside of their intended purpose, do not lead to a stable system of laws. Executive Orders are not even mentioned in the Constitution. The justification for their existence is argued to stem from the “Take Care” clause, which is a requirement that the President “take care that the laws are faithfully executed.”
Executive Orders have been issued by every President since George Washington ordered establishing a National Day of Thanksgiving. And many succeeding Executive Orders have been far more controversial. For instance:
- On July 2, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln suspended the “writ of habeas corpus” to permit Union soldiers to detain Confederate soldiers or those aiding them without due process.
- In February 1942, President Theodore Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 calling for the apprehension and relocation of Americans of Japanese descent to internment camps.
- President Harry S. Truman issued an EO to federalize United States’ steel mills – an order that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
- President Eisenhower issued an EO federalizing the Arkansas National Guard to enforce federal desegregation laws in Little Rock, AR.
As mentioned, it only seems that issuing Executive Orders has increased in recent years. And yet, here’s a partial listing of the number of EOs issued by our presidents. Franklin Roosevelt leads the pack with 3,728. Calvin Coolidge issued 1,203 orders. Ronald Reagan 381, Barack Obama 276, Donald Trump 220 – and counting, Joe Biden 162 and George Washington
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the Executive Orders President Trump has issued in his first week of his second term in office.
- Immigration
- Reinstatement of the Remain in Mexico policy. This policy requires persons seeking asylum in the United States to remain in Mexico pending their administrative law hearing adjudicating their asylum application.
- Discontinuance of the CBP One smartphone application to apply for asylum.
- Declaration of a National Emergency at the Southern Border. This allows the deployment of military troops at the US/Mexico border.
- Ending the existing policy allowing “birthright citizenship.” Argument has been made that the 14th Amendment provides that any child born on United States’ soil is a US citizen. This is a misreading of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment states in Clause 1, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Therefore, only US citizens are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Illegal immigrants are not.
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs (Division, Exclusion and Inequality)
- End DEI programs across the federal government and place federal DEI personnel on paid leave pending their reassignment or termination.
- Reaffirm there are only two genders – male and female. This order went further and made a key distinction. President Trump’s EO states not only that humans can only be male or female. It states this difference begins at the point of conception. This sets the stage to define personhood and that every human life is protected by the Constitution from the point of conception. That determination would effectively deem every pro-abortion (child sacrifice) law unconstitutional.
- Energy and Environment
- Withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Accord
- Declaration of a national energy emergency. This would suspend certain environmental laws to fast-track the exploration and extraction of energy sources like oil, liquid natural gas and coal.
- End the Biden Administration Electric Vehicle mandates.
- Miscellaneous
- Announce US withdrawal from the World Health Organization. This is very important as the WHO is an organization controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and seeks to invalidate US autonomy.
- Establish the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by Elon Musk.
- Revocation of the 51 current and former intelligence community officials who falsely claimed the Hunter Biden laptop story from the fall of 2020 was Russian disinformation.
I’d wager that the majority of us would agree with most of these Executive Orders. The problem is that future US Presidents can issue their own EOs and reverse every single one of these. The only way to implement generational changes to our federal government is through the use of constitutional amendments. DC will never propose and pass amendments that decrease the number of decisions the federal government makes, that decrease the amount of money they spend, or limit the time they can serve. The convention of states process in Article V is the only peaceful and constitutional way to restore our intended constitutional structure.
That’s why the Convention of States Action’s Article V resolution is the only solution that’s as big as our problems. Learn more at www.conventionofstates.com.
In liberty,
Brett
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