Obama Halts Bush's Eleventh Hour Orders

by Eyck Freymann

It has been common over the past few decades for outgoing Presidents to postpone desired but politically toxic moves until the night before the new President's inauguration. Bill Clinton was especially guilty of this: he pardoned over 400 people his final night, staying in the Oval Office past 4 AM. (I know, make the jokes.) Continued: Click "Read More"

Although Presidential pardons cannot be revoked, Executive Orders may be. According to Angler, Barton Gellman's biography of Cheney, when George W. Bush assumed office one of Cheney's first acts was calling the Government Printing Office to postpone the execution's of Clinton's last-minute orders, many of which were consequently countermanded.

The Times of India reports that Obama's administration has halted the printing of regulations so that they can be reviewed (Executive Orders do not go into effect until officially going through the GPO). At this time, there is no way to know the extent to which the outgoing Bush left his mark of Executive Orders, but it has been widely reported that Obama intends to use his executive authority to immediately sign a host of orders on a number of different measures. The New York Times reports that he signed his first this afternoon, making good on his commitment to closing the "revolving door between congress and lobbying.