Executive Orders Abuse Power?

The best known directives consist of executive orders and presidential proclamations, but there are many other documents that have a similar functional and effects. Reduced to their basic core, presidential directives are merely written, rather than oral, instructions or declarations that are handed down by the President. Authority for these directives must come from either the Constitution or statutory delegations. Yet the President's authority to issue directives goes beyond express language in the Constitution (Gaziano, 2001).

The President's authority to issue executive orders is limited by the extent of his powers and by other power given to Congress. If the President's power is derived from a constitutional grant of power, Congress remains free to reverse or adjust the fundamental authority. Congress also has some leeway in defining the procedures the President must carry out in the exercise of that power, even though there are some constitutional...
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