The world looked closely when US President Donald Trump published his first 26 executive orders on 20 January, the first day in the office. He set a tone for the first 100 days of his second term, targeting the initiative of diversity, equity and inclusion, by trying to reverse congenital citizenship among other anti -immigration orders, he set a tone for the first 100 days of his second term.
Executive orders allow the presidents to use their political power to implement policies and laws. This means that they should identify the relevant existing laws or constitutional route that can create a legal basis for orders before being issued.
DW has so far analyzed the impact of Trump’s executive orders and whether the US legal system has stopped its President’s powers.
Which executive orders have been signed?
Data suggest that executive orders remain an important tool for Trump since their inauguration. Although Trump issued the largest number of executive orders on 20 January, at least one executive order has been signed almost every other day.
More than 100 executive orders have been issued by Trump as his inauguration has restructured the way the United States rule and changed the course of foreign and domestic American policy.
How are Trump’s policies echoing Project 2025
After and after winning their election campaign, Trump and his colleagues verbally distance themselves from Project 2025, which was an auction to re -shape the United States according to ultraconsive ideals published by Washington -based Think Tank The Heritage Foundation. This asks government records to refer to climate change, accept fewer refugees and restrict abortion.
James Goodwin, the Director of Policy in the Center for Progressive Reforms, and his colleague Trump monitors the changes launched by the Trump administration and how closely they match the recommendation from the project 2025.
Gudwin said, “A sufficiently plural track with specific recommendations in Project 2025, very closely,” specifically a striking example referring to executive orders on transgender rights. “In some cases, the language is almost removal of Verbetim – or, in other cases, where the executive order itself fulfills something that Project 2025 had said normally.”
Unprecedented use of Trump’s executive orders
Trump has more trusted executive orders in the first 100 days of this presidential president, as he did in his previous term and was much heavier than any president in the 21st century.
Trump’s executive orders are not only standing out for the sheer number issued, political scientist Andrew Rudalevige said, whose research focuses on the President’s power and its relationship with other branches of the government. They also stand outside because some orders seem more on personal preference basis than policy priorities.
Rudlevige said, “The orders of vengeance that are going after specific individuals or specific firms, actually go out of the limits of the orders we have used in the past.” “They clearly do not execute the law in any serious sense, but are being used as a tool of personal power. And it is a problematic development.”
Rudlevigig said that the issue went beyond vengeance. “An executive order that the Department of Justice asks not to execute the law affects me as a problematic. We have seen that with an executive order about the 14th amendment and birth appreciative citizenship, which is already a clear constitutional text, trying to put a new definition of citizenship on this.”
Can executive orders be stopped or overturned?
All three branches of the US government have the legal power to reverse executive orders.
Because executive orders are a means of implementing the law, the Congress can step as the legislative branch of the government that passes laws on which executive orders are based.
Secondly, courts can interfere in cases where the executive orders of a president refute the constitution or existing laws.
Finally, future presidents can also cancel executive orders. Many acting orders of Trump have been issued to turn the biden, and vice versa – Biden has also overturned several executive orders from the first Trump Presidency.
“If you really want to achieve permanent policy changes, the law is a much more durable route,” Rudaliga said. “So it is interesting for me that the Trump administration has chosen to go on the legislative route in these matters, even if the Republican has a majority in both the Congress chambers.”
Legal challenges to executive orders
Out of Trump’s 100 executive orders, more than a quarter (29%) is legally challenged, with some facing. At the time of writing, most of those cases were still pending.
Technically, draft orders undergo a colleague-review process within relevant agencies, said Rudaliga said, before passing the Department of Justice to review the form and validity.
“I understand that, in the current administration, they are not going through the institutional process that is in different presidents for about 90 years,” said Rudlevige. “You wonder what they are doing for legitimacy. A president needs to use [executive orders] To execute the law. In some cases, President Trump has used him to incite the case, which issues orders on its face, against the current law.
“I think another part is a public relations aspect. The President handles the order with a big signature and is showing strong leadership, hoping that those who support their presidential post. In an era where the Congress is difficult to work, the President has been very tempted to do this.
