Executive Orders

Ya esta mostrando la hilacha Obama.

All weekend long, we read and heard references to “executive orders” — chiefly, that through the use of such mechanisms, President-elect Obama planned to overturn Bush Administration policies.

For answers, we called not a lawyer (forgive us, readers), but Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin and author of the book: “With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power.”

Hi Ken. Thanks for taking the time. So where does a president get the power to issue “executive orders?”

Well, the power really derives either from his constitutional power given to him in Article II or from legislative power given to him by Congress. An executive order is really just an instrument of the president’s constitutional or statutory power. They reach as far as the executive power reaches.

For instance, in October of 2001, President Bush issued an executive order establishing the tribunal system for enemy combatants. That was based on his authority as commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces. So was the NSA surveillance order, which set up the government’s ability to conduct warrantless wiretaps. Others have included President Truman’s desegregation of the military and President Eisenhower’s decision to send troops to Little Rock.

See here