critic call them " legislation by other means . “ Supporters defend them as a necessary tool for conduct the country " “ especially in the face of a Congress unwilling or ineffective to make bad choices . Whatever your position , the Executive Order has been used by presidents for good , for ill , and sometimes for just plain odd reason .
Constitutional Basis
Article II , surgical incision 1 of the U.S. Constitution contains a shadowy reference to executive orders , giving the president the big businessman to " take care that the laws are faithfully execute . “ Strict constructionists translate this phrase to invest the president only to act out laws approved by Congress , but presidents have shown a remarkable mental flexibility to overcome this potential obstacle . Executive orders have cover every matter from school integrating , to commence war , to providing political athletic supporter with cushy government positions .
These orders went largely unchecked until President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 10340 , which place all U.S. steel mills under Federal control . The Supreme Court ruled that Truman had overstepped his authority because he attempt to make law rather than clarify an existing slice of lawmaking . Justice Hugo Black , relate that his legal age opinion had offend the President ( which it had ) , invite Truman over for dinner party . Truman , overcome by the Justice ’s cordial reception , remarked , " Hugo , I do n’t much care for your law , but , by golly , this Bourbon dynasty is good . "
Since then , presidents have exercised more constraint and usually quote specific laws when signing an Executive Order . Once sign , however , they carry the power of law and compel all U.S. citizen , agencies , and businesses to survey them .
Famous, Infamous & Ridiculous Executive Orders
You might have take about these executive orders in Mrs. Snodergrape ’s 11th grade history class . Unfortunately , Mrs. Snodergrape commonly left out the most interesting titbit .
Emancipation Proclamation : Perhaps the most famous of all executive rules of order , the Proclamation freed all slaves living in the Confederacy . ( It did not , however , free slaves in the border states of Kentucky , Missouri , Maryland , Delaware , and West Virginia " “ states that permitted slavery , but had not splinter from the Union . )
[ WPA poster courtesy of theLibrary of Congress . ]
Desegregation of the Armed Forces : In February 1948 , a promising President Harry S. Truman sent Congress a 10 - tip proposal on broaden civil right field to African - Americans . Included in that architectural plan was a proposal to desegregate the military machine and phase out the all - disastrous units dating back to the Civil War . He immensely underestimated the reaction of his fellow Democrats , who that July break away from the Democratic Party and formed the Dixiecrat Party with Strom Thurmond as its nominee for president . Less than two weeks later , Truman release Executive Order 9981 , " [ adjudge it ] to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of discourse and opportunity for all persons in the armed service without attentiveness to slipstream , people of color , religion , or national origin . " By 1953 , 95 % of all African - American service member had been integrated into previously all - white unit .
Japanese - American Internment:“Tora ! Tora ! Tora!“ The lead Japanese planing machine radioed to headquarters to indicate full surprisal had been achieved at Pearl Harbor . The United States and Japan were at war ; the nation was afraid and was convinced Japanese spies tarry everywhere . President Roosevelt signalise Executive Order 9066 , authorizing the detainment of more than 110,000 Japanese - Americans . Taken mostly from the West Coast , about 60 % of those interned were American citizen , deny the right wing of habeas corpus and torn aside from their homes for the simple criminal offence of have Japanese lineage . A commission later determined that E.O. 9066 was the solution of " airstream prejudice , warfare hysteria , and a failure of political leadership . "
Indian Reservations : In 1851 , Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act , which empowered the political science to remove , by force out if necessary , Native Americans from their ancestral native land to less desirable fix further west . This policy rapidly took a back buttocks to the Civil War , but President Ulysses S. Grant created dozens of reservations . Some kindred go peacefully , while others , like the Sioux , waged a bitter fighting . finally , over 300 reservation were created , most in exceedingly inhospitable areas that nobody else want .
What ’s the full stop of being President if you ca n’t do a little morsel of whatever you want to do ? These executive orders have historians scrape their headspring and saying , " huh?“
Patronage : Is that civil service exam too severely ? Not a problem if you ’ve got friends in gamy places . Chief Executive have frequently used executive orders to award job . Theodore Roosevelt seemed in particular tender of this hiring practice , doling out over two dozen job to clerks , engineers , doc , and administrator . Of bank note , his Executive Order of June 23 , 1904 , appoint Dr. William L. Ralph as curator of the department of birds ' eggs in the National Museum , and his E.O. of November 2 , 1903 , made Mrs. Roy L. Quackenbush a lasting salesclerk in the Post Office .
Torch Hunting : Back in the undecomposed ol' days , when humankind were men , those manful gentleman liked to go hunting . At nighttime . With torches . patently this was such a widespread epidemic in the Panama Canal Zone ( then a U.S. willpower ) that it rise to the desk of President Woodrow Wilson . E.O. 1884 made the use of hunting with a " lantern , woolly mullein , balefire , or other artificial light" a infraction . Wilson apparently had a fascination with the day - to - day operations of the Panama Canal Zone ; he sign on executive orders covering hiring , anti - corruption efforts , telegraph and wireless services , and postal crimes . He also ratify E.O. 2526 , which forbade any persons of Chinese descent from entering the Panama Canal , penal by a $ 500 fine and up to one year in prison house .
