2. Executive Orders
an order or directive issued by the head of the
executive branch at some level of government.
U.S. Presidents have issued executive orders
since 1789, usually to help officers and
agencies of the executive branch manage the
operations within the federal government itself.
there is no constitutional provision or statute
that explicitly them, though there is a vague
grant of "executive power" given in Article II,
Section 1of the Constitution, and furthered by
the declaration "take Care that the Laws be
faithfully executed" made in Article II, Section
3,
3. Executive Orders
Until the 1950s, there were no rules
or guidelines on how to use them
The Supreme Court ruled in
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v.
Sawyer (1952) that EO 10340 from
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.
4. Executive Orders
One extreme example of an
executive order is EO 9066,
where F.D. Roosevelt
delegated military authority to
remove any or all people
(used to target specifically
Japanese Americans and
German Americans) in a
military zone.
The authority delegated to
General John L. DeWitt
paved the way for all
Japanese-Americans on the
West Coast to be sent to
5. Signing Statements
A signing statement is a written pronouncement issued
by the President of the United States upon the signing
of a bill into law.
There was controversy over the G.W. Bush’s use of
signing statements, which critics charged was unusually
extensive and modified the meaning of statutes.
In July 2006, the American Bar Association stated that
the use of signing statements to modify the meaning of
duly enacted laws serves to "undermine the rule of law
and our constitutional system of separation of powers".
Not mentioned in the constitution that he can alter
meaning of law. When a bill is presented to the
President, the constitution provides 3 choices: do
nothing, sign the bill, or (if he disapproves of the bill)
veto it in its entirety and return it to the House in which it
originated, along with his written objections to it.
6. Signing Statements
Until the 1980s, signing statements were generally
triumphal, rhetorical, or political proclamations and went
mostly unannounced. Until Reagan, only 75 statements had
been issued; Reagan and his successors George H. W. Bush
and Bill Clinton produced 247 signing statements among the
three of them. By the end of 2004, George W. Bush had
issued 108 signing statements containing 505 constitutional
challenges. As of January 30, 2008, he had signed 157
signing statements challenging over 1,100 provisions of
federal law.
Some opponents have said that he in effect uses signing
statements as a line-item veto.
The signing statement associated with the Detainee
Treatment Act of 2005, prohibiting cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody attracted
controversy:
"The executive branch shall construe... the Act, relating to
detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional
authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive
branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the
constitutional limitations on the judicial power...."
7. Executive Agreements
An agreement made between the executive branch of
the U.S. government and a foreign government without
ratification by the Senate.
Less formal than a treaty and is not subject to the
constitutional requirement for ratification by two-thirds of
the U.S. Senate.
The Constitution does not specifically give a president
the power to conclude executive agreements.
However, he may be authorized to do so by Congress,
or he may do so on the basis of the power granted him
to conduct foreign relations.
Despite questions about the constitutionality of
executive agreements, in 1937 the Supreme Court
ruled that they had the same force as treaties. Because
executive agreements are made on the authority of the
incumbent president, they do not necessarily bind his
successors.
8. Executive Agreements
For example, after the outbreak of World War II
but before American entry into the conflict,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt negotiated an
executive agreement that gave the United
Kingdom 50 overage destroyers in exchange for
99-year leases on certain British naval bases in
the Atlantic.
The use of executive agreements increased
significantly after 1939. Prior to 1940 the U.S.
Senate had ratified 800 treaties and presidents
had made 1,200 executive agreements; from
1940 to 1989, during World War II and the Cold
War, presidents signed nearly 800 treaties but
negotiated more than 13,000 executive
agreements.
Clinton authorised the Comprehensive Test Ban
agreement with other states in 1999, even
though the treaty had failed to ratified in the
