Executive Orders

[Werewolf]

Executive orders are a major source of power for any President of these United States and the authority they have granted him over the years is pretty broad and in some cases down right scary.

Which prompts me to ask:

From where does the President of the United States get the legal authority to write executive orders? What gives him the legal right to implement and enforce them.

I can't find anything in the Constitution or the amendments that grants that authority expressly or implied.

So what gives the man the right to create those things?

[drewtam]

I was under the impression that the EOs were more akin to daily direct commands, regardless if it has been reviewed by congress or the courts. For example, an order of a military officer to a subordinate would be an executive order even though congress or the courts never authorised it. Or health system administrator to a subordinate would be similiar.

But thats just a guess.

DRew

[Ron]

So what gives the man the right to create those things?

Nobody has told them they cannot do it so they keep doing it.

[Moondoggie]

Executive Orders set policy within the executive branch (all of the various departments) that are supposed to amplify the spirit and the letter of public laws.  In some cases, they pertain to areas or details that congress has not specifically addressed.  (I know that's hard to believe.)

Most of them are pretty mundane...from "FBI Agents must wear shades" (Joking) to "All personnel of the Executive Branch are strictly prohibited from targeting heads of states for assasination".

Think of them as the standing orders issued by a CO in the military that covers everything to the hours of operation for the chow hall to how many MP's are on each shift.

[Preacherman]

Don't forget that the government of the US is divided into three separate branches:  legislative, executive and judiciary.  The first makes the laws;  the second implements them;  the third enforces them.

An "executive order" has to do with the implementation of the Constitution and laws of the US.  It's not "new law", and can't be:  it can only implement laws and Constitutional measures already passed by the legislature and/or interpreted by the courts.  It's basically a list of do's and don'ts that tell employees of the US Government how to apply and/or interpret law in their conduct, enforcement, etc.

Sometimes an executive order can be controversial, because it applies law or legal principle in a way that's new, or unusual, or controversial.  If so, it's as subject to judicial oversight as any law passed by Congress.  If a court finds an executive order to be illegal or un-Constitutional, it's invalid, and remains so unless an appeal (all the way to the SCOTUS, if necessary) invalidates that verdict.