Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T15:17:25.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Series:   Elements in Public and Nonprofit Administration

The Courts and the President

Judicial Review of Presidential Directed Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2024

Charles Wise
Charles Wise
Affiliation:
Ohio State University

Summary

US Presidents have long issued presidential directives to federal agencies to adopt and implement programs to advance presidential priorities, both pursuant to statutes passed by Congress and outside of them. Federal courts from the first presidency established their power of judicial review of such directives, but they have not always exercised that prerogative to restrict wide-ranging assertions of executive power. This examination of judicial decisions analyzes the evolution of federal judicial treatment of presidential directives and the legal bases and principles employed in federal court decisions. This Element assesses the degree to which such decisions have been restrictive or supportive of such presidential directives. A more recent trend toward more restrictive principles is illuminated. Finally, implications for presidential, congressional, and federal agency policymaking are discussed.
Get access

Keywords

presidential directivesjudicial reviewexecutive ordersagency regulationspresidents
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Public and Nonprofit Administration
Online ISBN: 9781009303033
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 20 June 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amdur, S. & Hausman, D. (2017). Nationwide Injunctions and Nationwide Harm. Harvard Law Review Forum, 131(2), 49–53.Google Scholar
Armey, D. (1998, August 5). Stop Clinton’s Order That Ran Roughshod over Our Constitution. Atlanta Constitution, A(5).Google Scholar
Bennet, J. (1998, July 5). True to Form, Clinton Shifts Energies Back to U.S. Focus. New York Times.Google Scholar
Biden, J. (2021). Remarks on the COVID-19 Response and National Vaccination Efforts. Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, 775(2). https://bit.ly/3V2WMyO.Google Scholar
Biskupic, J. (2009). American Original: The Life and Constitution of Antonin Scalia. New York: Sarah Crichton Books.Google Scholar
Black, H. C. (1979). Black’s Law Dictionary. Eagan, MN: West Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Blomgren-Bingham, L. & O’Leary, R. (2016). The Collaborative Public Manager. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Branum, T. (2002). President or King? The Use and Abuse of Executive Orders in Modern-Day America. Journal of Legislation, 28(1), 1–86.Google Scholar
Calabresi, S. & Prakash, S. (1994). The President’s Power to Execute the Laws. Yale Law Journal, 104(3), 541–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calabresi, S. & Rhodes, K. (1992). The Structural Constitution: Unitary Executive, Plural Judiciary. Harvard Law Review, 105(6), 1153–1205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calabresi, S. & Saikrichna, P. K. (1994). The President’s Power to Execute the Laws. Yale Law Journal, 104(2), 541–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calabresi, S. & Yoo, C. (2008). The Unitary Executive: Presidential Power from Washington to Bush. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clinton, W. (1998). Remarks on Medicare and the Legislative Agenda and an Exchange with Reporters. Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1329.Google Scholar
Committee on Government Operations, 85th Congress. (1957). Executive Orders and Proclamations: A Study of a Use of Presidential Powers. 14th Committee Print, Washington, DC. https://lccn.loc.gov/58060398.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. (2001). The Law, Presidential Memorandum and Executive Orders: Of Patchwork Quilts and Shell Games. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 31, 6–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, S. (2019). The New Public Standing. Stanford Law Review, 71(2), 1229–1304.Google Scholar
Dellinger, W. (2006, June 30). A Supreme Court Conversation. Slate. www.slate.com/id/2144476.Google Scholar
Devins, N. & Fisher, L. (2002). The Steel Seizure Case: One of a Kind? Constitutional Commentary, 19(1), 63–86.Google Scholar
Entin, J. (1997). The Dog That Rarely Bites: Why the Courts Won’t Resolve the War Powers Debate. Case Western Reserve Law Review, 47(4), 1305–1315.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. (1975). Presidential Spending Power. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. (2004). The Politics of Executive Privilege. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. (2010). The Unitary Executive and the Inherent Power. University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, 12(3), 569–596.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. (2013, November 18). Getting It Wrong Again and Again – Judicial Error’s Compounding Effects. National Law Journal.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. (2015a). Presidential Unilateral Action: Constitutional and Political Checks. Congress and the Presidency, 42(3), 293–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, L. (2015b). Presidential Spending Power. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, L. (2016). The Staying Power of Erroneous Dicta from Curtis-Wright to Zivotofsky. Constitutional Comment, 31(14), 149–219.Google Scholar
Fisher, L. (2017). Supreme Court Expansion of Presidential Power: Unconstitutional Leanings. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaziano, T. (2001). The Use and Abuse of Executive Orders and Other Presidential Directives. Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation.Google Scholar
Hamilton, A. (1987). Federalist No. 70. In Kramnick, I. ed., The Federalist Papers. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
House of Representatives. (1952). The Steel Seizure Case. H. Doc. No. 534. Part 1. 82nd Congress, 2nd session.Google Scholar
Howell, W. (2005). Unilateral Power: A Brief Overview. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 35(3), 417–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kagan, E. (2001). Presidential Administration. Harvard Law Review, 114(8), 2245–2385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. (2018). The Limits of Presidential Influence. Journal of Political History, 30(1), 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lessig, L. & Sunstein, C. (1994). The President and the Administration. Columbia Law Review, 94(1), 2–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowande, K. & Rogowski, J. (2021). Presidential Unilateral Power. Annual Review of Political Science, 24, 21–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, F. (1994). The American Presidency: An Intellectual History. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
McGarity, T. (1986). Regulatory Reform in the Reagan Era. Maryland Law Review, 45(2), 253–271.Google Scholar
Moe, T. M. & Howell, W. G. (1999). Unilateral Action and Presidential Power: A Theory. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 29(4), 850–873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, E. & Barsa, M. (2020). Presidential Administration, the Appearance of Corruption, and the Rule of Law: Can Courts Rein in Unlawful Executive Orders? Marquette Law Review, 104(2), 285–349.Google Scholar
National Association of Attorneys General (2023). State Litigation and AG Activities Database. https://attorneysgeneral.org.Google Scholar
New Civil Liberties Alliance. (2021). Dazed and Abused: Biden’s 100-Day Avalanche of Administrative Abuses. https://nclalegal.org/biden-executive-orders/.Google Scholar
Nolette, P. & Provost, C. (2018). Change and Continuity in the Role of State Attorneys General in the Obama and Trump Administrations. Publius, 48(3), 469–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obama, B. (2014). Fixing the System: President Obama Is Taking Action on Immigration. Online video clip. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/immigration/immigration-action.Google Scholar
Olson, T. (1983, September 7). Memo to Edward Schmults. RRL, WHORM Subject Files, FE 003 (Executive Orders), Box 8, [FE003 (170000–294999)], #179187.Google Scholar
Olson, W. J. & Woll, A. (1999). Executive Orders and National Emergencies: How Presidents Have come to “Run the Country” by Usurping Legislative Power. Policy Analysis, 358, 1–23.Google Scholar
Relyea, H. (1974). A Brief History of the Emergency Powers in the United States. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Relyea, H. (2008). Presidential Directives: Background and Overview. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Robertson, C., Winkelman, D. A., Bergstrand, K., and Modzelewski, D. (2016). The Appearance and the Reality of Quid Pro Quo Corruption: An Empirical Analysis. Journal of Legal Analysis, 8(2), 375–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohr, J. A. (1986). To Run a Constitution: The Legitimacy of the Administrative State. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas press.Google Scholar
Rosenfeld, M. (2001). The Rule of Law and the Legitimacy of Constitutional Democracy. California Law Review, 74(5), 1307–1351.Google Scholar
Rudalevige, A. (2021). By Executive Order: Bureaucratic Management and the Limits of Presidential Power. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Silvia, C. (2018) Evaluating Collaboration: The Solution to One Problem Often Causes Another. Public Administration Review, 78(3), 472–478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stack, K. (2015). An Administrative Jurisprudence: The Rule of Law in the Administrative State. Columbia Law Review, 115(5), 1985–2015.Google Scholar
Sterling, J. (2000). Above the Law: Evolution of Executive Orders. University of West Los Angeles Law Review, 31(1), 99–121.Google Scholar
Strauss, P. & Sunstein, C. (1986). The Role of the President and OMB in Informal Rulemaking. Administrative Law Review, 38(2), 181–206.Google Scholar
The White House.(2021). Fact Sheet: App. In American Lung Association v. EPA. No. 19–1140(CADC) 2076.Google Scholar
The White House. (2022, August 24). President Biden Announces Student Loan Relief Program for Borrowers Who Need It Most. https://bit.ly/3wFdbzg.Google Scholar
US Department of Justice. (2019). Brief for Petitioners in Trump v. Sierra Club.Google Scholar
Wharton, F. (1849). State Trials of the United States during the Administrations of Washington and Adams. Philadelphia, PA: Carey and Hart.Google Scholar
Wise, Charles R. (1993). Public Administration Is Constitutional and Legitimate. Public Administration Review, 53(3), 257–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

The Courts and the President
  • Charles Wise, Ohio State University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009303033
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

The Courts and the President
  • Charles Wise, Ohio State University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009303033
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

The Courts and the President
  • Charles Wise, Ohio State University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009303033
Available formats
×