

Wrong Number BBS  201-451-3063
FILE NAME:  FEMA4.TXT


                               Series Title:

                         IN CASE OF EMERGENCY ...

                    FEMA vs. Your Constitutional Rights


         [This series of texts is reproduced with permission from
          a special supplement to _The Spotlight_, May 25, 1992.

                               The SPOTLIGHT
                        300 Independence Avenue, SE
                           Washington, DC  20003

      This text may be freely reproduced provided acknowledgement to
           The Spotlight appears, including the above address.]



          CHIEF EXECUTIVE COULD SEIZE DICTATORIAL POWER ANY TIME

  A little-known executive order hands the President authority to seize
   control of the political, economic and military structure on a whim.

                              WHAT IS AN EO?


     Under the Constitution, the president is vested with the executive
power of the government (Article II, Section I, clause 1), the power to
"preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" (Art. II, Sect. 1, clause
7), and the power to see that the laws are faithfully executed (Art. II,
Sect. 3).  From these powers is implied the authority to issue "executive
orders."

     The president must have the authority to issue directives to keep
control of the executive branch and to provide detail to legislation.
Neither Congress nor the courts have the right to prohibit the executive
branch from adding or subtracting authority from one government agency to
another, for example.

     However, this presidential power has been abused in the form of
executive orders that impinge across legislative concerns which are
properly the province of Congress.

     The validity of executive orders (EOs) has been questioned many times
dating at least to the Civil War.  However, a ruling as to the extent or
limit to which they may be used has never been determined by the courts or
Congress.

     The _Federal Register_ contains the text of EOs issued by the
presidents.  There is no congressional authorization required, nor is there
any review by the judiciary.  All EOs are "laws" made by a single man --
the president of the United States.


