Some of President Donald Trump’s executive orders this term include withdrawing from the World Health Organization and banning birthright citizenship.
TOLEDO, Ohio — President Donald Trump has been busy putting pen to paper for several executive orders since his inauguration on Monday.
What are they and what do they do?
“An executive order is basically a memo from the boss to do something, or to prioritize something or to think about something in a certain way,” said Sam Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Toledo.
Nelson says presidents often use them to try and push their agenda through Congress.
Some of Trump’s executive orders so far include:
“I’m sure he (Trump) would prefer Congress to come out with a birthright citizenship bill or to withdraw from a treaty, but Congress is not likely to do that and so he can act in this way,” Nelson said.
An executive order is not exactly a law, though.
“An executive order has to follow the constitution and cannot conflict with already existing legislation,” Nelson said. “Presidents cannot overturn laws already passed by Congress simply by writing a memo.”
A president can take two major actions, though: overturn a previous president’s executive orders and issue pardons.
But Nelson expects many of Trump’s other executive orders to face challenges from his colleagues.
“Other stakeholders are going to weigh in, Congress may not support some of these orders and may act to overturn some of these provisions, but then there’s the reality that some of these executive orders may take a very long time to take effect,” he said.
Data from the American Presidency Project, based out of the University of California, Santa Barbara, which collects data on executive orders, shows presidents have tended to use more executive orders over time.
For example, former President George Washington issued eight orders in two terms. In Trump’s first term alone, he signed 220 executive orders. Former president Joe Biden signed 162 in his term.
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