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Executive Orders: Issuance and Revocation

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:

In addition to executive orders and proclamations, Presidents often issue “presidential memoranda.” The distinction of these instruments from executive orders and proclamations is likewise more a matter of form than of substance. Specifically, all three instruments can be employed to direct and govern the actions of government officials and agencies. Further, if issued under a valid claim of authority and published, all three may have the force and effect of law, requiring courts to take judicial notice of their existence. Indeed, it would appear that the only technical difference between executive orders and proclamations in relation to presidential memoranda is that the former must be published in the Federal Register, while the latter are published only when the President determines that they have “general applicability and legal effect.”

Just as there is no definition of executive orders and proclamations in the Constitution, there is, likewise, no specific provision authorizing their issuance. As such, authority for the execution and implementation of executive orders stems from implied constitutional and statutory authority. In the constitutional context, presidential power to issue such orders has been derived from Article II, which states that “the executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States,” that “the President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,” and that  1 Congressional Research Service