Law Library

The President of the United States has the power under the Constitution to issue Executive orders. These orders are have been used by Presidents throughout the history of the U.S. and since about 1907, are numbered consecutively. The text of Executive orders appears in the daily Federal Register as each Executive order is signed by the President and received by the Office of the Federal Register. The text of Executive orders beginning with Executive Order 7316 of March 13, 1936, also appears in the sequential editions of Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Both the Federal Register and CFR can be found at www.gpoaccess.gov and in hard copy in the library. Executive orders from the early 1980's on can be found on Westlaw and Lexis. Executive orders are also posted on the White House web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/orders/. Executive orders have the same force and effect as laws passed by Congress.

Presidential Proclamations are usually ceremonial in nature and sometimes are issued as statements of policy (for example, the Emancipation Proclamation). Proclamations are also numbered consecutively in a different series than Executive Orders. Presidential Proclamations can be found in the same sources as Executive Orders.

Presidential Signing Statements are statements issued concurrently with the President's signing of a law passed by Congress. While some are merely laudatory statements about a law being passed, increasingly they include the President's interpretation of the law as well as how the executive branch will be directed to administer the law. Signing statements are available on the White House web site, at www.gpoaccess.gov (Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents) (back to 1993).  

Posted 11/24/08