Ashley Larson

Staff Writer

President Trump has made changes in the government through massive government layoffs, the hiring of new advisors and a strong push of executive orders.

But what is an executive order? Can he fire government workers in mass? Can he hire personal advisors? Dr. Adam McGlynn, ESU professor of political science, answered some pressing questions when it comes to Trump’s second term.

First, we must look at exactly what an executive order is. According to the American Bar Association, an executive order is a “signed, written, and published directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government.”

“The thing about executive orders is that they should not be superseding the laws passed by Congress,” says McGlynn.

Executive orders are nothing new, all presidents before Trump have signed executive orders, but the amount of executive orders we are seeing this early in the presidency is new. However, the amount of executive orders that have been signed have been increasing for decades.

According to McGlynn, presidents have been signing more executive orders because Congress has slowed down significantly on passing laws.

“There was more of a center, a group of moderates from both parties, that would allow there to be legislation enacted, and that center has dissipated.”

One major topic of legislation has been federal funding Originally, funding had fallen to Congress, but because the president is in charge of many government agencies, funding is mainly controlled by the president for better efficiency.

“It’s been this way for a hundred years now, the president introduces a budget, it’s Congress’ job to tinker with that, make changes to it, and then pass a budget. We don’t really pass budgets anymore, we pass continuing resolutions that fund everything for a few months, that’s why there’s all this threat of government shutdowns,” McGlynn added.

According to the Impoundment Act of 1974, once Congress approves this spending, the president can not hold the money back.

While the President does have authority over the federal workforce, the “issue that’s gonna come up, as people are potentially getting fired who have contracts, and are members of public service unions, there is a contract he is seemingly in violation of. So, again, a lot of this is up to the courts,” said McGlynn.

“The amount of cuts that are being cut in employees and the data {Musk has} been given access to, traditionally, hasn’t happened… but in theory, there’s nothing that says this is illegal.”

Ever since Roosevelt’s presidency, presidents have the power to hire advisors without consulting the Congress. As long as they pass background checks, clearance and sign documents declaring to not disclose sensitive information, they can serve the president as temporary employees.

Another push from Trump has been an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

“The thing about the constitution in general, is that it is rather short, and there’s not a lot of detail. So much of it is up to interpretation,” said McGlynn.

While Trump can technically write an executive order in an attempt to amend birthright citizenship, it is still up to the courts to decide whether or not it is constitutional.

“But there have been numerous court cases that have upheld the idea that the fourteenth amendment does protect birthright citizenship.”

While not technically an executive order, Trump has made some comments (though mostly in jest) about the possibility of a third term.

The problem with a third term is that, according to the constitution, a president can only serve two full terms. In order to amend the constitution, two-thirds of the house and senate would have to approve, and republicans do not control the two thirds majority.

However, if Trump did decide to run anyways, he may be facing lawsuits filed to remove him from the ballots.

So, what is a violation of the amendment, and are there any legal consequences?

“A violation is seemingly taking an action that contradicts the amendments of the constitution, but, in our system of separation of powers, it’s the court’s job to interpret when that happens,” said McGlynn.

However, things are complicated by Trump’s presidency. The first complication is the Trump vs. The United States court case.

“There was a decision that the supreme court made last year in Trump vs. The United States, which seemingly grants a broad level of immunity to presidents that I don’t even think existed before, and wasn’t really the prevailing view during Nixon’s presidency,” said McGlynn.

Trump has also advocated for less independence of the Department of Justice under the Attorney General. Usually, if the government breaks the law, the Attorney General would investigate and try to determine if any charges need to be made.

With the broad level of immunity and less independence being pushed for the Attorney General to conduct their own investigations, the world is entering an eventful era in American politics.

“What we thought was settled, and ‘this is what the amendment is, and this is what it means’ is now really up in the air. So, to some degree, even me, I’m waiting to see how these cases move through the courts and what they ultimately decide,” stated McGlynn.