The chart below captures EOs released over just the past century, from 1921-2021. Used by presidents since Washington, EOs cover a wide variety of policy areas and the frequency with which a President uses them varies. As a widely cited Congressional study notes, even though the Constitution does not explicitly give these powers to the President, the President can use EOs that are “generally directed to, and govern actions by, Government officials and agencies,” albeit having “the force of law, even if they do not follow the same procedure as bills passed by Congress.”ĮOs are required by law to be published in the federal registrar and have “the force of law,” whereas proclamations deal with “the activities of private individuals,” and lack the force of law “unless the President is given the authority over private individuals by the Constitution or a federal statute.” Memoranda, on the other hand, are known as EOs by another name, but are not required to be published in the federal registrar, do not require a citation of legal authority, and do not require OMB to issue budgetary impact statements. Presidents instead derive this power as implied from Article II. And there’s no constitutional provision authorizing Presidents to use them. The differences between executive orders, proclamations, and memoranda are not well defined, in fact, the Constitution is absent any provision referring to these terms or a description of how the President is to use such powers. There’s a long history of famous cases where presidents exercise these powers in a way that draws widespread criticism-Lincoln’s suspension of Habeas Corpus and FDR’s internment of Japanese Americans, to name a few. Presidents use various directives (Executive Orders (EO), Presidential Memoranda (PM), Proclamations, national security directives, and presidential signing statements) to achieve policy goals and enable uniformity in regard to managing certain policy issues throughout the executive branch, among other things. And as we learned under the Obama administration, releasing the memoranda late in his second term enabled a quick revocation by the Trump administration. Doing so sooner rather than later will help get the national security apparatus thinking about and planning for a climate changed future, and could serve as a vehicle for more clearly defining Secretary Kerry’s new position. While these quick first steps put the United States back on the world stage and provide a foundation for unraveling the Trump administration’s environmental regulatory rollbacks, the Biden administration may consider quickly exhuming the Obama administration’s 2016 Presidential Memoranda on Climate Change and National Security.

Of the numerous EOs, memoranda, and statements released on day one, two focus on climate change: the EO on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis as well as the announcement that the United States will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. The day one EOs released by Biden offer a declaration of the administration's priorities. Bush didn’t release any in their first days.

In contrast, Trump released just one Day One executive order and Obama and George W. Usually, the first 100 days of a new presidency have been a big target for major initiatives, but the Biden-Harris administration rolled out 13 executive orders just hours into the Biden presidency. President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken their oaths of office, and they wasted no time in getting a running start.

Obama memoranda examples