Policies & Analysis

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This order calls for greater use of the death penalty, particularly for crimes by immigrants or against law enforcement officers.

This order ends Biden's federal moratorium on the use of the death penalty. It directs the Attorney General to pursue the death penalty in all cases where possible, particularly in cases involving capital crimes committed by undocumented immigrants or the murder of a law enforcement officer. The Attorney General must also encourage state attorneys general to pursue the death penalty; make sure that the 37 people whose death sentences Biden commuted have horrific prison conditions; and, work to overrule Supreme Court precedents limiting officials' abilities to pursue capital punishment.

Underway

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This memorandum calls for rerouting water from California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state.

This memorandum directs the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Interior to make progress on routing water from Northern California to Central and Southern California, purportedly to fight wildfires, within 90 days. Officials and experts have said water supply is not a problem Los Angeles faces in fighting recent fires, so this order is unlikely to improve California's wildfire management abilities. Additionally, it is likely to harm the already endangered populations of smelt, salmon, and steelhead in the state, causing irrevocable damage to California's biodiversity and critical habitats.

Underway

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This order rescinds dozens of prior executive orders that sought to make progress across the economy, civil rights, health care, climate and more.

This order rescinds roughly 80 Biden-Harris administration executive orders that sought to improve the lives of millions of people, across issues like expanding access to health care, raising wages, protecting civil rights, and combatting climate change. For example, it eliminates the Task Force that sought to reunify families after Trump's family separation program; programs expanding economic opportunities for Native, Black, and Hispanic people; and an initiative promoting access to voting. Democracy Forward and its partners will continue assessing the impact of each individual rescission.

Challenged

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This omnibus order directs agencies to take numerous steps to prioritize energy production at the expense of environmental, climate, or public health concerns.

This executive order rolls back or eliminates most of the advances made by the Biden administration to combat climate change, and undermines longstanding protections to our environment and public health to prioritize domestic energy development. In addition to immediately revoking twelve Biden Executive Orders related to energy, climate, and environmental justice, the order directs agencies to develop plans to expedite permitting and reduce the weight of environmental impacts in policies and other agency decisions. It immediately pauses distribution of funds through the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, specifically targeting programs that would advance America's electric vehicle industry. It prioritizes the expansion of liquified natural gas exports, domestic mining, and energy exploration and production on federal lands and the outer continental shelf.

Underway

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This memorandum designates membership, staffing responsibilities, and meeting procedures for the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council.

This memorandum is the first in a series of National Security Policy memoranda establishing administrative procedures and reporting structures for the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council under the new administration. President Trump has appointed Rep. Mike Waltz as his National Security Advisor and Project 2025 advisory group head Stephen Miller as his Homeland Security Advisor.

Challenged

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This order requires a pause and review of certain foreign development assistance.

This order requires a 90-day pause and review of foreign development assistance to purportedly evaluate if such assistance is consistent with U.S. foreign policy. The impact of this order is not immediately clear and it may be limited by the language of the EO that may restrict its effect to new obligations and disbursements. However, regardless of its immediate impact, this order — like others that purport to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris Climate Agreement — does serious damage to our country's credibility, undermines international alliances and partnerships, and allows countries like China and Russia to fill the void created by our withdrawal from the world stage.

Underway

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This memorandum prohibits the leasing of land and the issuance of permits for wind energy projects

This memorandum prohibits the leasing of any area within the Offshore Continental Shelf for the purposes of wind energy and temporarily pauses the issuance of new or renewed approvals, permits, leases, and loans for wind projects. Taken together, these actions represent an attack on the development of the nation's largest source of renewable energy. According to the American Clean Power Association, there is enough offshore wind capacity being developed in our country to power 30 million homes. Notably, the order's prohibition of leasing land within the Offshore Continental Shelf does not apply to leases related to oil and gas.

Underway

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This memo asks for recommendations on how to make Federal public buildings more uniform, classical, and traditional.

This memo directs the Administrator of the Government Services Administration (GSA), together with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and agency heads, to make recommendations as to the the architectural style of federal public buildings. Specifically, it is focused on how to emphasize classical architecture and tradition.

Underway

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This order directs political appointees and the DOGE to create a hiring plan that would further undermine career public servants and their ability to serve the American people.

This order begins by repeating falsehoods about federal hiring, including claims that it is driven by illegal, discriminatory preferences, rather than the merit system it is actually based on. It then uses that false premise to order political loyalists — including the yet-unnamed leader of the DOGE — to create a federal hiring plan accordingly. The order may increase, rather than decrease, hiring discrimination by assessing candidates based on easily manipulated attributes like faithfulness to the Executive Branch — rather than the country or our Constitution.

Challenged

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This order establishes the "Department of Government Efficiency," which has been tasked with modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency.

This executive order claims to create the "Department of Government Efficiency" as a Temporary Organization under 5 U.S.C. 3161, with a stated purpose to modernize federal technology and software in order to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity. Such a mission may appear to be benign, or even a positive development for the federal bureaucracy, but Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and others associated with DOGE have made clear their intent to target, overrule, or undermine civil servants; roll back important protections that keep us safe; and, cut massive programs that benefit tens of millions of Americans.

Underway

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This order establishes new standards for naming geographic features, including renaming Mount Denali to Mount McKinley and the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

This order addresses the composition of the Board on Geographic Names, directing agency heads to consider replacing appointees on the board. It also lays out vague principles to guide the board’s naming and renaming of geographic features, which are encapsulated in the two specific changes the order makes to the current names: Mount Denali to Mount McKinley and the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Both changes reflect the rhetoric of the Trump administration, making implicit references to tariffs and trade policy, as well as a dismissal of Native American history and international cooperation.

Underway

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This order injects politics into the hiring, review, and retention of public servants in the "Senior Executive Service" who keep the government running for the American people.

This memo directs Trump-Vance political appointees to control various personnel affecting non-partisan senior executives. The key initiatives include requiring that performance plans are set centrally, rather than by supervisors; reassigning these senior executives without real guidance; and, having political appointees dominate the internal boards that oversee hiring and performance. The clear purpose is to harass and control those nonpartisan public servants who have the most experience delivering for Americans.