Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: I'm Stephen Carol, and this is Here's Why, where we
Speaker 2: take one news story and explain it in just a
Speaker 2: few minutes with our experts here at Bloomberg. Donald Trump
Speaker 2: started his presidency with a bang.
Speaker 3: Today I will shine a series of historic executive orders.
Speaker 3: With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of
Speaker 3: America and the revolution of common sense.
Speaker 4: The next item here is the withdrawal from the Paris
Speaker 4: Climate Treaty. What is to confident that those are not
Speaker 4: going to be blocked by the courts?
Speaker 1: I don't think they will.
Speaker 3: I don't think they can be.
Speaker 2: He signed dozens of executive orders, some in front of
Speaker 2: a crowd of thousands at the Capitol wondering in Washington,
Speaker 2: and others with reporters watching on in the Oval Office.
Speaker 2: They covered everything from energy to immigration to withdrawing the
Speaker 2: United States from the World Health Organization. But here's why
Speaker 2: Trump's executive orders have limits. Our white housed reporter Hedrianna
Speaker 2: Lowencron joins me. Now for more. Hedriana, First of all,
Speaker 2: what can executive orders be used for?
Speaker 4: Well, essentially, executive orders are really legally binding mandates, and
Speaker 4: essentially they direct the agencies on how to implement existing
Speaker 4: federal law. So this is an important distinction.
Speaker 1: An executive order only is legal, and of course it
Speaker 1: can be challenged and we'll get into that later if
Speaker 1: it's consistent with the law that Congress has passed.
Speaker 2: Okay, So my logical next question then is what can't
Speaker 2: executive orders be used for.
Speaker 1: They can't be used to essentially give the executive branch
Speaker 1: additional power. So this is not their opportunity to try
Speaker 1: to pass a new law and kind of skirt the
Speaker 1: current system of checks and balances that we have, which
Speaker 1: is that Congress has the authority to pass the laws.
Speaker 1: So this is for them to really interpret the law
Speaker 1: that has already been given and carry out that to
Speaker 1: the agencies. And again, they can really be sued and
Speaker 1: declared illegal by courts if someone affected by that order
Speaker 1: challenges it and the court says it is inconsistent with
Speaker 1: a congressional statute.
Speaker 2: So let's get into some of those potential challenges then,
Speaker 2: or maybe checks and balances we could describe them on
Speaker 2: executive orders. How can these orders be challenged if there.
Speaker 1: Is an individual or a party who is directly affected
Speaker 1: by an order, for example, one of President Trump's executive
Speaker 1: orders is an attempt to end birthright citizenship. So in
Speaker 1: the immigrant community, they have the ability to file a
Speaker 1: law suit and this instance, one immigration group already has
Speaker 1: filed a lawsuit on Monday evening challenging new order, and
Speaker 1: the courts can take it up if they agree that
Speaker 1: there is legal ground and essentially can decide that the
Speaker 1: order is inconsistent with the current law and in place
Speaker 1: or what the constitution says.
Speaker 2: What about Congress? Does it have a role in checking
Speaker 2: these sort of executive orders?
Speaker 1: So Congress can't overrule whatever the executive order is, but
Speaker 1: it can undermine the executive branch by then later on
Speaker 1: passing their own legislation that makes the execution of the
Speaker 1: order difficult or even impossible. So if there's a new
Speaker 1: program or an office that the president creates, they could
Speaker 1: pass a law that would deny funding or do something
Speaker 1: along those lines, kind of after the act.
Speaker 2: We've talked about this long list of executive orders that
Speaker 2: Donald Trump signed on his first day. Is it normal
Speaker 2: for a president to do something like that, signs so
Speaker 2: many executive orders in just the first day.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, there really has been a tendency for presidents to
Speaker 1: issue this story that we're seeing, and particularly when a
Speaker 1: president comes into office and it's part of a different
Speaker 1: party than the previous holder of office, which we're seeing here,
Speaker 1: and that's because a number of the day one actions
Speaker 1: is actually reversing the actions that their predecessors had ordered.
Speaker 1: This is something that goes back and forth depending on
Speaker 1: who is in the executive office, and as such has
Speaker 1: garnered some criticism for being too easily revoked and the
Speaker 1: temporary way to pass an agenda.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk a bit more about those criticisms. This
Speaker 2: isn't necessarily a universally liked instrument of governing.
Speaker 1: Right, and sometimes there's a tendency for presidents to focus
Speaker 1: on executive action if their party doesn't have a majority
Speaker 1: in Congress and they are unable to get legislation passed
Speaker 1: through that system. So there has been some criticism for
Speaker 1: this idea that this is the way to get the
Speaker 1: agenda passed, skirting the traditional checks and balances of the
Speaker 1: US system in which Congress is supposed to be the
Speaker 1: branch responsible for making the laws. So the criticism comes
Speaker 1: from it being temporary at flipping back and forth, and
Speaker 1: also this idea that kind of skirts the checks and balances.
Speaker 1: But again, the importance here in terms of whether the
Speaker 1: executive orders can be properly done and legally work is
Speaker 1: they have to be the interpretation of current law. It
Speaker 1: can't be a new power, or it can't be something
Speaker 1: that is not already existing as a congressional statue.
Speaker 2: Okay, Hedrianna looncron Our, White House Reporter, Thank you very
Speaker 2: much for joining us for more explanations like this from
Speaker 2: our team of twenty nine hundred journalists and analysts around
Speaker 2: the world. Search for Quick Take on the Bloomberg website
Speaker 2: or Bloomberg Business app. I'm Stephen Caroll. This is Here's why.
Speaker 2: I'll be back next week with more. Thanks for listening.