Government by Pen Stroke
An executive order is a written directive from the president that has the force of law within the executive branch. Federal agencies must follow it. The power is enormous: with one signature, a president can reshape policy, redirect resources, and fundamentally alter how laws are enforced—all without Congress passing anything.
Where Is It in the Constitution?
It’s not. The Constitution never mentions “executive orders.” Instead, they rest on Article II’s grant of “executive Power” to the president and the requirement to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”
The Supreme Court has ruled that executive orders must be rooted either in constitutional power or in authority Congress has delegated. An executive order cannot create new law—only direct how existing law is carried out or exercise powers the president already has.
Where Does This Come From?
Every president since George Washington has issued executive orders. They’ve been used for actions both celebrated and condemned: Lincoln suspending habeas corpus, FDR interning Japanese Americans, Truman desegregating the military, LBJ barring discrimination by federal contractors.
The key case is Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), where the Supreme Court struck down President Truman’s order seizing steel mills during the Korean War. Justice Robert Jackson’s concurring opinion established that presidential power isn’t fixed—it’s at its maximum when Congress authorizes the action, uncertain when Congress is silent, and “at its lowest ebb” when the president acts contrary to Congress’s will.
How the Constitutional Amendment Pen Works
On January 20, 2025, Trump’s first day in office, he signed Executive Order 14160 attempting to end birthright citizenship. Children born on or after February 19, 2025, would not automatically become U.S. citizens if neither parent was a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
This is a president trying to rewrite the Constitution with his pen.
The Fourteenth Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” This language was adopted in 1868 to establish that Black Americans were citizens. In 1898, the Supreme Court confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that the Fourteenth Amendment grants birthright citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States.
Federal courts unanimously blocked the order. Multiple judges ruled it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The Ninth Circuit found it “invalid because it contradicts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in December 2025.
But here’s what matters: Trump claimed authority to override a constitutional amendment, Supreme Court precedent, and federal statutes with a single order. Even though courts blocked it, the attempt itself is the threat—it signals that constitutional protections don’t matter if the president says otherwise.
How Congressional Power Was Stolen
DOGE: On January 20, 2025, Trump created the “Department of Government Efficiency” by executive order, reorganizing an existing office and giving it sweeping access to agency records and control over federal spending decisions. Congress never authorized this. DOGE teams now sit in every agency, reviewing contracts, freezing credit cards, and deciding which expenditures align with “presidential priorities.”
The Funding Freeze: On January 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget ordered federal agencies to freeze grants, loans, and financial assistance—billions of dollars affecting everything from Head Start to farm subsidies to university research. Congress appropriated this money. Trump froze it anyway.
Federal judges ruled this violated the Constitution’s separation of powers. District Chief Judge John McConnell wrote: “The Executive put itself above Congress. It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.”
The power of the purse belongs to Congress. Article I, Section 9: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” When Nixon tried this in the 1970s, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act requiring the president to get congressional approval before withholding funds.
Trump’s administration believes this law is unconstitutional. They claim the president has inherent authority to refuse to spend money Congress has appropriated—to effectively veto spending after the fact without congressional override.
And where is Congress?
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole told CNN he didn’t “have a problem” with the freeze. This is stunning. The power of the purse is Congress’s most fundamental authority, and the chairman of the spending committee shrugged.
The Pattern
Modern presidents have generally issued between 100-200 executive orders per term. Here’s the recent history:
- Bill Clinton (1993-2001): 364 executive orders over two terms
- George W. Bush (2001-2009): 291 executive orders over two terms
- Barack Obama (2009-2017): 277 executive orders over two terms
- Donald Trump (2017-2021): 220 executive orders in one term
- Joe Biden (2021-2025): 162 executive orders in one term
- Donald Trump (2025-present): 218 executive orders in 2025 alone
Trump’s second term represents a dramatic acceleration. In his first 100 days of his second term, he signed 142 executive orders—more than Obama and Bush signed during their entire second terms combined. By the end of 2025, Trump had already exceeded his entire first-term total.
But it’s not just the volume—it’s what the orders do. Trump has used executive orders to:
- Attempt to rewrite the Fourteenth Amendment
- Create a new agency (DOGE) without congressional authorization
- Freeze congressionally appropriated funds
- Eliminate existing agencies (USAID) and transfer their functions
- Fire independent officials protected by fixed terms
- Order agencies to ignore court rulings
Each action pushes the boundaries of presidential power. Each tests whether the other two branches will enforce constitutional limits. And repeatedly, the Supreme Court has expanded presidential authority while Congress has stood by and watched its own powers eroded.
Why Does It Matter?
Executive orders are tools for managing the executive branch. When used properly—directing how agencies implement laws Congress has passed—they’re necessary and appropriate.
But Trump is using them to make policy Congress hasn’t authorized and to override constitutional limits. He’s attempting to govern by decree. The Founders designed a system where making law required agreement between House, Senate, and president—a deliberately difficult process to prevent concentrated power.
Executive orders bypass that system. When the president can rewrite the Constitution, create agencies, freeze spending, and ignore courts with the stroke of a pen, we no longer have three co-equal branches. We have what the Founders feared: a president who rules rather than executes, who makes law rather than faithfully carrying it out. (See: Separation of Powers, Chapter 13)
What Would We Lose?
Without executive orders, presidents couldn’t manage the federal government efficiently. With no limits on executive orders, we lose the protection that comes from requiring broad agreement before major changes.
The system depends on all three branches enforcing constitutional boundaries. Courts must strike down orders that exceed presidential authority. Congress must reclaim powers the executive branch has seized. Voters must reject presidents who claim unlimited power.
When courts defer to the president, when Congress surrenders its authority, and when voters reward executive overreach, the constitutional limits become meaningless. We’re left with exactly what the Founders designed the Constitution to prevent: all power concentrated in one person’s hands.
