Also do EO’s have the same force as legislated law period ?
No.
The U.S. Constitution gives the American President authority to create laws, or decide how an existing law should be carried out, through the use of executive orders. Because executive orders do not require congressional approval, the President can set important policy while sidestepping public debate. Executive orders may be used for a broad range of issues, from environmental conservation and protection, to prohibiting discrimination, and sending troops to other countries. To explore this concept, consider the following executive order definition.
Definition of Executive Order
An order made by a U.S. President, or a government agency, that has the same force of law.
The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the United States Constitution gives the president broad executive and enforcement authority to use his or her discretion to determine how to enforce the law or to otherwise manage the resources and staff of the executive branch. The ability to make such orders is also based on expressed or implied Acts of Congress that delegate to the president some degree of discretionary power. Like both legislative statutes and regulations promulgated by government agencies, executive orders are subject to judicial review and may be overturned if the orders lack support by statute or the Constitution.
In times of crisis, the U.S. President may issue executive orders, overriding Congress, on a nearly limitless scope. Many presidents have done so, including President Lincoln’s use of an executive order to fight the Civil War, President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order to arm the United States in preparation for WWI, and President Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order created Japanese internment camps after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. entered WWII.
While all of these actions were considered valid, considering the emergency nature of the times, there are definitely limitations on what a president can do by executive order, especially in the absence of an emergency that relates to such orders. Because of the separation of powers delineated by the Constitution, a president cannot do any of the following by executive order:
Establish taxes, or raise them
Borrow or spend money on behalf of the nation
Create, change, or interfere in marriage or divorce laws
Declare war
Deprive citizens of “life, liberty, or property”
Conflict arises over executive orders when the president acts in opposition to the limitations placed on presidential authority, or when he or she has not been given power to act. While executive power is vague, or undefined, in certain areas, both Congress and the President have constitutional authority, under the Necessary and Proper Clause, to do what is necessary to carry out the laws and duties of each office.
So, the answer to your question Reily, is yes. Sorry AFB-XYZ but you are wrong with your answer of no.