By: Tracy Waller, MPH, Esq.
In this issue of Policy Unpacked, we better understand The Constitution, Executive Orders, Memorandums, and Proclamations. You can find other issues in our Policy Unpacked series here.
**Words in bold are collected in the glossary at the end of the document**
What is the Consititution?
The United States Constitution is a big book of rules that was written in 1787. The people who wrote it were very careful to make sure the government was created with a checks and balances system to make sure power would be equally divided for each one.
Checks and balances is a system that makes sure no one part of the government becomes too powerful. Think of it like a group project at school. If one person tried to do everything and make all the decisions, it wouldn’t be fair. So, everyone in the group has different jobs, and they can check each other’s work to make sure things are fair.
The three sections of the government are:
- Judicial branch: Makes the laws, i.e., The Supreme Court and some other courts
- Legislative branch: Enforces the laws, i.e., Congress
- Executive branch: Decides if laws follow the Constitution, i.e., the president and executive agencies
This way, no one person or group gets too much power, just like in a fair group project!
In the hundreds of years since it has been written, there have only been 27 amendments. An amendment is a change or addition made to the original Constitution. Amendments help update and clarify the Constitution over time. The first 10 amendments are called the Bill of Rights and talk about important rights and freedoms of the people, like freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial.
No law can go against the Constitution—if someone tries to make an unfair rule, judges can say, “Nope! That’s against the Constitution!”
What is an Executive Order?
The president of the United States is similar to the boss of an organization. The boss often needs to give clear instructions to make sure everything runs smoothly. The president is the boss of the executive branch. And the instructions he gives are called executive orders.
Executive orders are essentially a special set of instructions that the president gives to the people who work for the government– that may impact the rest of the people in the United States also. Like the boss, the president of the United States does not have to get permission to tell the workers what he would like them to do. The workers must follow the instructions of the executive orders– just like the people who live in the United States must follow the laws.
But, the president should not be able to make any instruction they want. They have to follow the big book of rules called the Constitution when they give the instructions. They also have to make sure everyone knows about these instructions by publishing them in a special government book called the Federal Register.
Even though these instructions are really important, they should not break the main rules in the Constitution.
What happens if an Executive Order Goes Against the Constitution?
We will talk more about that in the next part of this series, but that can happen. A lot of times, presidents will run their ideas for executive orders by people they trust who are experts who can try to make sure this won’t happen. A few of the executive orders that President Trump has printed may have this problem.
Why does a president use an executive order instead of working on making a new law?
We talk more about this in our next part of this series also, but, mostly because laws take longer to get passed and a president gives executive orders by themselves. Laws take a lot of people working together to get passed. And some can take years! President Trump gave some of these executive orders on his first day as president.
What is a Memorandum?
A memorandum (or memo) is like a note that shares important decisions or information, but it is not as official as a letter. It is a more casual way to communicate something important, like giving instructions or updates. Sort of like a text versus an email.
An executive memo is a special kind of memo used by the president. It is kind of like an executive order, but there is no specific rulebook for how the president has to create it. It does not have to be printed in the Federal Register, which makes it harder for people to track or find out about them. And, they are different from executive orders. A president does not need to explain how he is following the Constitution, or the big book of rules, when he is writing executive memos.
President Trump has been using memos often to add more information to executive orders to help explain how people should follow the orders.
Linked are some of the latest memos from President Trump.
What is a Proclamation?
A proclamation is an official announcement made by someone in charge, like the president, to let people know something important. It is like a public message that tells everyone about something that is happening or a special event.
Proclamations usually affect regular people and can announce things like holidays or important national events. But, unless the Constitution or a law says that the proclamation can have the power to make laws, it doesn’t make any rules that people have to follow. So, the president can make a proclamation, but it does not have the same power as a law unless it is supported by something official like the Constitution– or a law.
For example, a president might proclaim a national day of remembrance, but it wouldn’t force people to do anything specific unless a law was made about it.
Example of a Proclamation:
Date: February 9, 2025: Title: “A Proclamation,”: President Trump has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. On his way to visit the Gulf of America, President Trump announced that February 9, 2025 was the first ever Gulf of America day.
Examples of executive orders from President Trump’s first few weeks in Office (and a complete list):
Date: January 20, 2025, Title: “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,”: President Trump and his administration, or the people that work for him, are trying to end programs called “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) and people who work in them. The Order also discusses ending people’s jobs in “environmental justice office” positions, “’equity-related’ grants,” etc. They also have this memo: January 24, 2025
Date: January 20, 2025: Title: “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,”: President Trump and his administration have said that only two sexes can be recognized on official forms and documents: male and female. They do not believe in gender spectrum, intersectionality, or being born the “wrong sexed body.” They also have this memo: January 29, 2025
Date: January 20, 2025: Title: “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,”: President Trump and his administration are trying to change the way the Fourteenth Amendment is used. Congress (people voted into office in elections) made laws that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen here and it doesn’t matter who their parents are or where they are from. President Trump and his administration are trying to change that.
Date: January 20, 2025: Title: “Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization,” President Trump and his administration left the World Health Organization (WHO). This means the government stopped funding people around the world who needed medicine and medical supplies. They say it was because the WHO did not do a good job with COVID-19.
Date: January 20, 2025: “Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’”: The President created an federal agency (which is discussed further in part 3 of this series) and named it the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to use government technology to help make everything more efficient, or work better. (*Author’s note: only Congress can create an agency, so DOGE is not an official agency.).
Date: January 24, 2025: Title: “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment,” President Trump and his administration are no longer giving government (federal) money for abortions for people enrolled in government medical programs: Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). They say they will make exceptions for rape, incest, or if a woman’s life is endangered, but this is very difficult to prove. This is called the Hyde Amendment. And it has been included every year in what the federal government pays for since 1976.
Date: January 28, 2025: Title: “Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,”: President Trump and his administration are not giving money to anyone under age 19 seeking gender affirming care. This includes the use of puberty blockers or any type of drug that would delay puberty. He says the science is not true that says surgery and medicine can help people with gender dysphoria which he calls identity-based confusion. He instead wants articles to be posted about how bad to help make people with gender dysphoria healthy.
Date: January 29, 2025: Title: “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” President Trump and his administration are not giving government money to schools that are talking about anything other than two sexes or being born in the wrong body– and chemical and surgical interventions. He also wants bathrooms to have male and female on them- so that everyone is equal based on their sex. The administration says it is doing this to give parents their power back.
Date: February 10, 2025: Title: “Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws,” President Trump and his administration are not letting the government spend money on paper straws for government buildings anymore. He’s going back to plastic straws.
Date: February 11, 2025: Title: “President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Organization Initiative”: President Trump and his administration are not going to hire new government employees because there are a lot of people who are not doing a good job.
Date: February 13, 2025: Title: “Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission”: President Trump and his administration are trying to fight diseases and saying that the U.S. needs healthier food, and we need to look at how much we take of medications like: selective serotonin inhibitors (SSRIs), antipsychotics, weight-loss drugs, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and other things.
Definitions:
- Amendments: Changes or additions made to the original Constitution. They help update and clarify the Constitution over time. There are 27 amendments in total.
- Bill of Rights: The name for the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. They are given this name because many of them give people rights that cannot be taken away. Some of these include: free speech, jury trials, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, right to a lawyer in criminal trials, and more!
- Checks and balances: A system that makes sure no one part of the government becomes too powerful.
- Congress: The part of the U.S. government that makes laws. It has two parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The people in each state vote for who serves in Congress to represent them. Congress has the power to declare war, approve budgets, propose bills (that become laws), and check the actions of the present and other branches of government.
- Executive branch: The part of the government that makes sure laws are followed and runs the day-to-day work of the country. In the United States, the leader of this branch is the president. The president, along with help from the vice president and the Cabinet, work to keep the country safe, manage the military, and handle relationships with other countries.
- Executive Memorandum (memo): A special kind of memo used by the president that does not have a specific rulebook for how the president has to create it.
- Executive Order: A special set of rules or guidelines that the President gives to the people who work in the government. The President has to
- Federal Register: The official journal of the federal government that contains agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekend, except on federal holidays.
- Impeach: to make it official by charging a public person with committing crime while he said he was doing his job
- Judicial branch:The part of the U.S. government that interprets and applies the laws. It is made up of courts, with the U.S. Supreme Court as the highest one. Judges and justices in these courts decide if people are following the laws, if the laws are fair, and if the laws follow the Constitution.
- Legislative branch: The part of the government that makes the laws. In the United States, this branch is called Congress, which is made up of two parts: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Congress discusses ideas, votes on these ideas, and if most people agree, the ideas become laws that everyone has to follow.
- Memorandum: A document that shares important decisions or information, but it’s not as official as a letter.
- Proclamation: A proclamation is an official announcement made by someone in charge, like the president, to let people know something important.
- Supreme Court: The highest court in the United States. Most courts have one judge, but the U.S. Supreme Court has nine justices. They serve on the Court for their lifetime. Each of the nine has been chosen by a U.S. President and then voted onto the Court by the Senate (one of the two parts of Congress). The Supreme Court has the final say on legal matters. One of the things they can decide is if laws or actions by the government are constitutional.
- U.S. Attorney General: The person who represents the U.S. in court and the person who advises the President of the U.S. on the law.
- U.S. Constitution: A document that outlines the fundamental principles and framework of the government of the United States. It sets up the structure of the government, lists the rights and freedoms of the people, and makes sure no branch of government becomes too powerful.
- The U.S. House of Representatives (The House): One of two parts of Congress. People vote for members of the house of representatives. There are 435 members of the House of Representatives; but, the number of House of Representatives in a state or territory can change and is sometimes updated because it is based on how many people live there. Members are up for reelection every two years. Along with the Senate, the House can propose and pass bills (which will become laws if they are approved by the Senate and then signed by the President). But only the house of representatives can impeach a federal officer.
- The U.S. Senate: One of two parts of Congress. People vote for each of the two senators in their state. There are 100 total senators. Each of the two senators in a state serve six years, but their six years do not begin and end at the same time– so that a state will not have to elect two senators at the same time. Along with the House, the Senate can propose and pass bills that may become laws. The Senate can also confirm Cabinet secretaries and federal judges (and justices). When the house impeaches a person, the Senate holds the trial.
- Veto: When a branch of the government stops or rejects the decision of another branch. Someone can veto part of something or the whole thing.
