Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Biden follows Trump’s lead in expanding use of executive orders

President Biden signs executive order on police reform

President Biden signs an executive order establishing new federal policing rules.

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Biden continued his extensive use of executive orders on Wednesday, taking action on police procedures on the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death. Executive orders have become increasingly common as a polarized Congress has been unable to move legislation.

Such presidential actions have historically been used for two reasons, according to public policy strategist Meredith McGehee: in the face of a crisis that demands quick action, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, or in response to a “do nothing” Congress.

And with the Senate evenly – and bitterly – divided, very few bills make it to the president’s desk these days.


The occupants of the Oval Office don’t want to use executive orders but sometimes have little choice, said congressional scholar Norman Ornstein, who has studied the legislative branch for decades.

“Most presidents, even if they have the ability to use executive power, would prefer to do it legislatively, ” he said, explaining that legislation action is more durable.

Police reform is the latest example of a president stepping in when the legislative process doesn’t produce his desired result. Since Floyd died at the hands of police officers, sparking nationwide protests and a renewed spotlight on police brutality towards Black Americans, Democrats have twice tried and failed to pass legislation.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Bipartisan talks began, but soon hit a wall as the two parties could not reach a compromise. The House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in March 2021, but failed to move through the polarized Senate. Biden claimed that Republican senators “rejected enacting modest reforms, which even the previous president had supported, while refusing to take action on key issues that many in law enforcement were willing to address.”

Now, Biden has taken matters into his own hands, although it only applies to federal policing. His executive order establishes a national registry of officers fired for misconduct, mandates that all officers wear body cameras, and restricts transfers of military equipment to law enforcement agencies. It also includes incentives for state and local agencies to employ these protections and encourages them to follow the Justice Department’s restrictions on chokeholds and “no knock” warrants. The national registry, limits on chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and body camera requirements were all part of the Floyd bill.

Ornstein explains that, while this order is very limited to federal agencies, it can impact the ways that state and local law enforcement operate. In addition to the incentives, it may create more opportunities for the Justice Department to take control of police departments when they have violated certain standards.

Executive orders were utilized extensively in the first half of the 20th century — Franklin Delano Roosevelt used them more often than any other president, averaging 307 per year. However, its usage has declined steeply. Since Jimmy Carter’s average of 80 executive orders per year 40 years ago, no presidents have averaged more than 48. That is, until the past two presidents. Donald Trump signed 55 orders per year, while Biden has so far averaged 67. These numbers parallel increased polarization in Congress.

Made with Flourish

“Whenever the Congress is so closely divided, there are all the incentives in the world for the executive, in this case the president, to issue executive orders. This happens very frequently when there is an inability by one party or the other to break a filibuster with 60 votes,” said McGehee, who was executive director of the crosspartisan advocacy group Issue One before launching her own consulting firm. “The biggest change [in recent years] is that the nature of our politics has changed, in that the post-World War II consensus between Republicans and Democrats has imploded.”

Ornstein, senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute, echoes this notion that growing polarization has led to more executive orders. “What we’ve seen, fundamentally, since the Obama presidency, is that you can’t count on votes from the party that is not the president’s party.”

Ornstein also mentioned another important consideration when it comes to executive orders: the Supreme Court. He describes how the current court, controlled by conservatives, showed a willingness to allow greater executive power when there was a Republican president, but is now curtailing that power. In addition, he believes the court has begun limiting the power of the federal government in general, which will have an effect on how much Biden and his successors can utilize executive orders.

Read More

Innovative Local Solutions Can Ease America’s Housing Crisis
aerial photography of rural
Photo by Breno Assis on Unsplash

Innovative Local Solutions Can Ease America’s Housing Crisis

Across the country, families are prevented from accessing safe, stable, affordable housing—not by accident, but by design. Decades of exclusionary zoning, racial discrimination, and disinvestment have created a housing system that works well for the wealthy but leaves others behind. Even as federal cuts to public housing programs continue nationwide, powerful, community-rooted efforts are pushing back and offering real, equity-driven solutions led by local voices.

Historically, states like New Jersey show what’s possible when legal advocacy and grassroots organizing come together. In 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel ruling established that every municipality in the state has a constitutional obligation to provide its fair share of affordable housing. This landmark legal ruling reshaped housing policy and set a national precedent. Today, organizations like Fair Share Housing Center continue to defend and expand this right, ensuring that local governments are prohibited from using zoning laws to exclude working-class families or people of color.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump Welcomes Salvadoran President, Continuing To Collaborate With Far-Right World Leaders

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 14: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House April 14, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Trump Welcomes Salvadoran President, Continuing To Collaborate With Far-Right World Leaders

WASHINGTON D.C. - President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would try to deport “as many as possible” immigrants or criminals to El Salvador. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele met with Trump at the White House to discuss the ongoing deportations of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement (CETOC).

Trump has now deported 238 individuals to El Salvador under the 1879 Alien Enemies Act without notice or due process of law. President Bukele has agreed to help Trump with his deportation goals and received $6 million from the White House to continue these efforts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Quiet Death of Dissent
woman in black hijab holding white and black printed board
Photo by Justin Essah on Unsplash

Quiet Death of Dissent

There is something particularly American about the way we're dismantling our democracy these days – we are doing it with paperwork. While the world watches our grand political theater, immigration agents are quietly canceling visas, filling out deportation orders, and reshaping the boundaries of acceptable speech without firing a single shot.

I think about Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia graduate who committed no crime beyond speaking his mind. I think about Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts whose academic career hangs by a thread. I think about the estimated 300 international students whose visas are under review or already revoked for daring to participate in First Amendment exercises on campus across the United States. These stories are not just about immigration status but about who is American enough to participate in its democracy and under what conditions.

Keep ReadingShow less
hundred dollar bills.
Getty Images, boonchai wedmakawand

Congress Bill Spotlight: Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act

The Fulcrum introduces Congress Bill Spotlight, a weekly report by Jesse Rifkin, focusing on the noteworthy legislation of the thousands introduced in Congress. Rifkin has written about Congress for years, and now he's dissecting the most interesting bills you need to know about but that often don't get the right news coverage.

Trump reportedly tips his Mar-a-Lago groundskeepers with $100 bills. What if his own face appeared on them?

Keep ReadingShow less