MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – A flurry of executive orders from President Donald Trump over the past three weeks has prompted what many legal experts have called a Constitutional crisis. In addition to violating federal laws, many are also in direct conflict with Vermont statutes.
In the first three weeks of his presidency, Donald Trump has signed dozens of executive orders aimed at rolling back programs aimed at diversity, equity, and inclusion; restrictions on transgender athletes in sports; sanctuary cities; and pausing billions of dollars in electric vehicle incentives.
“When President Trump says ‘drill baby drill,’ it kind of makes me feel like the EV is going to be pushed off to the side,” said Scott Reynolds of Waterbury Center.
Trump on Friday hinted Friday at a new executive order that would ban paper straws. Some bartenders like Krista Simonds — who agrees we need to move away from plastic -products — acknowledges that paper straws can be a challenge. “People go through a lot more straws than they would if it were a reusable straw or plastic straw and they get frustrated if you have a frozen drink — they disintegrate,” Simonds said.
Whether it’s single-use plastics, EV rules, or any other policy, can a presidential order trump state laws? “Under the federalist system of government, we have state laws that are sacrosanct unless they run into conflict with federal laws,” said Jared Carter, a professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. He says state laws can only be superseded by federal laws passed by Congress. “It’s Congress that passes the laws, it’s the president that administers them, and its up to the courts to decide when a president has crossed that line and gone outside of their legal authority.”
Vermont has signed onto a handful of lawsuits claiming that Trump’s orders have overstepped his constitutional authority. But even if a court strikes down an executive order, it remains to be seen whether the Trump administration would bypass the courts and attempt to carry it out anyway.
Ultimately, Carter says many of the rules of civil society like checks and balances of power are based on hundreds of years of political norms and that it’s Americans’ faith in the rule of law that makes it all work.