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Executive Tyranny

By Gordon F. Corbett
Post Office Box 1262
Port Orford, Oregon 97465
gordon@harborside.com (8-20-01)

    Perhaps the most salient aspect of the Clinton Administration was its use of Executive orders.

    The Constitution grants presidents no specific power to write Executive orders.  Its closest provision is in Article 2, Section 3, which says, "...he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed...", but those laws are ones passed by Congress.  Clinton's orders wrote new law.

    Once, long ago, Executive orders were innocuous instructions that set bureaucratic procedures.  Later, some presidents used them to block Congress.  When Congressional committees began looking for Communists working in his administration, President Eisenhower signed an order telling his departments not to cooperate.  Although this directive seemed wrongheaded at best, it could be interpreted as a legitimate check on Congressional power.

    The Constitution lets only Congress legislate, and it does not give  Congress leave to delegate that power.  Regardless, our Representatives and Senators have permitted presidents to write Executive orders that have the power of law;  and, despite its un-Constitutionality, that delegation has been allowed to endure.

    An older example is Congress's letting the Executive write economic regulations.

    Herbert Hoover started it.  The economy had collapsed.  He persuaded Congress to give his departments broad powers to write regulations, so that they could "fix" the economy.  Later, Congress passed more laws to enact Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal."  When the Supreme Court struck down most of it, Roosevelt responded by threatening to pack the Court with his men.  Since then, the courts have generally supported Executive legislation.

    Gradually, Executive departments' writing laws became routine.  Now, a president's staff can do it.

    Summary:  power has been concentrated;  checks have been removed;  and our Constitution's protections hang by a thread.

    Ronald Reagan said it best:  "Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp, as it is at this moment."