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Executive Orders: Issuance and Revocation the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” The President’s power to issue executive orders and proclamations may also derive from express or implied statutory authority. Irrespective of the implied nature of the authority to issue executive orders and proclamations, these instruments have been employed by every President since the inception of the Republic.

Despite the amorphous nature of the authority to issue executive orders, Presidents have not hesitated to wield this power over a wide range of often controversial subjects, such as the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus; the establishment of internment camps during World War II; and equality of treatment in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. President Obama recently issued an executive order pertaining to the abortion provisions in the new health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This broad usage of executive orders to effectuate policy goals has led some commentators to suggest that many such orders constitute executive lawmaking that impacts the interests of private citizens and encroaches upon congressional power. The controversial nature of many presidential directives thus raises questions regarding whether and how executive orders may be amended or revoked.

 2 Congressional Research Service