Know your Constitution – Are Executive Orders lawful?
Article II of the U.S.Constitution lays out the powers and duties of the Executive Branch (the president). Section 1 gives a description of term of office and how he/she is elected, qualifications, terms of removal from office, compensation, and oath. Section 2 elaborates on duties. Please see below.
Article II, Section 2 states:
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”
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According to Section 2, The President is the Commander in Chief of Armed Forces and to make treaties and go to war with consent of the Senate. Hershel also has the power to pardon (except for impeachments) and appoint judges, ambassadors, and department heads.
THAT’S IT!! Sections 3 and 4 cover the State of the Union Address and the crimes for which he/she can be impeached and removed from office.
While Executive Orders are not mentioned in the Constitution, it has been a precedent for a President to issue Executive Orders that he deems to be necessary and proper. An Executive Order is a policy or procedure issued by the President that is a regulation that applies only to employees of the Executive Branch of government. Congress has a responsibility to the people to veto any Executive Order that has any effect on non-governmental employees. Executive Order that effect our Liberty is not lawful. Nowhere does the Constitution give the Executive Branch the power to infringe on the rights of the several States or the people therein. When Executive Orders infringe on personal liberty they take on the mantle of monarchical decrees.
The Last decree by any English King was by James II in 1688.
Writing Law, Overturning Law, or Setting aside Law through decree subverts and extirpates the laws and liberties of the people.