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1 1 (March 19, 2001)

handle is hein.crs/crsahok0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20846 March 19, 2001 Executive Orders: Issuance and Revocation T.J. Halstead Legislative Attorney American Law Division Summary Executive orders and proclamations are used extensively by Presidents to achieve policy goals, set uniform standards for managing the Executive Branch, or outline a policy view intended to influence the behavior of private citizens. The Constitution does not define these presidential instruments, and does not explicitly vest the President with the authority to issue them. Nonetheless, such orders are accepted as an inherent aspect of presidential power, and, if based on appropriate authority, they have the force and effect of law. This report discusses the nature of executive orders and proclamations, with a focus on the scope of presidential authority to execute such instruments and judicial and congressional responses thereto. Definition and Authority The Constitution does not contain any provisions that define executive orders or proclamations. The most widely accepted description appears to be that of the House Government Operations Committee in 1957: Executive orders and proclamations are directives or actions by the President. When they are founded on the authority of the President derived from the Constitution or statute, they may have the force and effect of law.... In the narrower sense Executive orders and proclamations are written documents denominated as such.... Executive orders are generally directed to, and govern actions by, Government officials and agencies. They usually affect private individuals only indirectly. Proclamations in most instances affect primarily the activities of private individuals. Since the President has no power or authority over individual citizens and their rights except where he is granted such power and authority by a provision in the Constitution or by statute, the President's proclamations are not legally binding and are at best hortatory unless based on such grants of authority. The difference between Executive orders and proclamations is more one of form than of substance .... 1 1 Staff of House Comm. On Government Operations, 85th Cong., I Sess., Executive Orders and Proclamations: A Study of a Use of Presidential Powers (Comm. Print 1957) (hereinafter Orders and Proclamations). Congressional Research Service CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web The Library of Congress

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