President Trump wasted no time pursuing his agenda, signing dozens of executive orders on his first days in office.

Many of the orders would amount to major changes in current policy, leading VERIFY readers to ask exactly what power executive orders hold, and whether they are the same as laws passed by Congress.

Are executive orders the same as laws passed by Congress?

No, executive orders are not the same as laws passed by Congress.

Executive orders are the fastest way for a president to try to enact policy changes, as he can issue them on his own, whereas passing a law through Congress requires majority votes in the House and Senate before the president can sign. But executive orders are more limited in what they can do, compared to laws passed by Congress. They can also be revoked more easily.

The ability to issue executive orders is derived from Article II of the Constitution, which gives the president broad “executive power.” That means power over the executive branch: White House staff, the military, and federal agencies like the FBI or Department of Energy. Using executive orders, the president can tell those agencies what to do, giving him extensive influence over the day-to-day affairs of the country.

But this power is not limitless. The president’s orders must adhere to existing law, whether that’s the Constitution, acts of Congress, or decisions made by the courts. The president does not have the power to repeal or change existing laws with an executive order, the way Congress does with legislation. Orders that overstep this authority and contradict existing law can be struck down by the courts.

The president does have the power to interpret laws and decide how they get enforced, and that’s what many executive orders do. But those interpretations can also be challenged in court.

For example, one of the executive orders signed by Trump “suspends enforcement” of the TikTok ban for 75 days. But legal experts have pointed out that the ban passed by Congress only gave the president the authority to do that in very specific circumstances. That means it’s possible that if the order gets challenged in court, it could be ruled illegal, and the Trump administration could be ordered to enforce the ban.

Similarly, Trump issued an order attempting to revoke birthright citizenship. But that right is enshrined in the Constitution via the 14th Amendment, meaning this order too could be struck down in court. The attorneys general of 22 states have already filed lawsuits asking the courts to block the order.

On the other hand, many of Trump’s orders dealing with energy – such as declaring a national emergency and loosening certain environmental regulations – appear to fall within the typical purview of executive authority. Congress has explicitly given the president the power to declare emergencies, and many laws leave it up to the executive branch to decide the specifics of regulatory enforcement.

Another key limitation of executive orders is that they can be repealed by any president with the stroke of a pen, whereas laws can only be repealed by Congress or struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Many of the executive orders signed by President Trump are merely undoing orders signed by President Biden, just as many of Biden’s earliest orders were revoking those signed by Trump in his first term.

So while executive orders can be used to quickly achieve some policy changes, they’re limited by existing law and often only change things in the short term. Major, long lasting changes require action from Congress.