What Makes An Order Executive?

Okay, so it’s not our best show title, but you get what it’s about don’t you? Yep, we’re jumping headfirst into the chaos machine. Won’t you join us?

REFERENCES

There have recently been a whole bunch of executive orders:

Federal Register. “2025 Donald J. Trump Executive Orders.” National Archive. https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/donald-trump/2025

If you didn’t get the weather map joke:

Stracqualursi, Veronica. “Washington Post: Trump Was the One Who Altered Dorian Trajectory Map With Sharpie.” September 6, 2019. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/06/politics/trump-sharpie-hurricane-dorian-alabama/index.html

They began numbering the executive orders after the Federal Register Act was passed:

McKinney, Richarch J. “A Research Guide to the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations.” September 16, 2019. Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, DC.  https://www.llsdc.org/fr-cfr-research-guide

The first president to issue an executive order was George Washington:

Statutes and Stories. “George Washington’s First Executive Order.” February 1, 2021. https://www.statutesandstories.com/blog_html/george-washingtons-first-executive-order/

Powers and duties under Article II:

Constitution Annotated. “ArtII.1 Overview of Article II, Executive Branch.” https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-1/ALDE_00000243/

When Biden issued an executive order saying that the Equal Rights Amendment was properly ratified and is part of the Constitution:

Megerian, Chris; Superville, Darlene; and Savage, Claire. “Biden Says the Equal Rights Amendment Should Be Considered Ratified.” January 19, 2025. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-equal-rights-amendment-era-16b554dfe913797a52f894b72684bc45

The archivist of the United States was just fired by the Trump administration:

Watson, Kathryn. “Trump Fires Archivist of the United States, Official Who Oversees Government Records.” February 7, 2025. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-fires-archivist-of-the-united-states-colleen-shogan/

In Trump’s first term, when the EPA issued the permit for the pipeline they initially rejected:

National Association of Counties. “Trump Administration Issues Executive Order Making It Harder for States to Block Oil and Gas Pipeline Projects.” April 16, 2019. https://www.naco.org/blog/trump-administration-issues-executive-order-making-it-harder-states-block-oil-and-gas-pipeline

Obama did not actually issue an executive order about marijuana but rather several guidance memoranda:

Lampe, Joanna R. “Does the President Have the Power to Legalize Marijuana?” [PDF]. Updated November 4, 2021. Congressional Research Service. http://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10655

Trump made comments about DE&I policies being responsible for a plane crash while signing an executive order about air safety:

Associated Press. “Trump Signs Aviation Order to Assess ‘Damage’ Done to Air Safety by Diversity Policies” [Video