Protection or Promotion?

Presidents routinely issue executive orders. These are not laws exactly; they are not statutes enacted by Congress. Executive orders are essentially directives to the executive branch—commands to federal agencies and personnel about how they should exercise the legal authority and discretion they already possess. Executive orders shape enforcement priorities, internal procedures, and institutional focus. Sometimes executive orders are small, such as President Obama’s Executive Order 13589, which encouraged double-sided printing to save paper. Some executive orders are momentous, such as President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, wh…