Executive Order Watch: Protecting America’s Health from Harmful Directives
Executive orders are directives issued by the President or state governors to manage the operations of the executive branch and implement policy priorities within the scope of their statutory and constitutional authority. While executive orders carry the force of law, they remain subject to limitations imposed by statutes, the Constitution, and judicial review. In 2025, executive actions continue to profoundly influence public health policy across a range of critical areas, including reproductive and gender-affirming care, environmental health protections, pandemic response efforts, and immigration enforcement. Given their immediate and often far-reaching legal and policy consequences, careful monitoring and analysis of these orders are essential.
Our resources on executive orders and actions provide legal practitioners, policymakers, and public health professionals with timely information to track, interpret, and respond to these evolving executive directives within the broader context of administrative law and public health governance.
Resources
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Announces Policy of Sharing Medicaid Data with the Department of Homeland Security
Recent Executive Orders Threaten Climate Change Mitigation Efforts and Public Health Goals
Links to Executive Order Resources
Federal Actions and Their Impact on Harm Reduction, Public Health Emergencies, and Climate Change: A Preview of the 2025 Public Health Law Conference
Public Health Under the New Administration: Examining State and Local Authority to Regulate Raw Milk, Water Fluoridation, and School-Entry Vaccines
Immigration Executive Actions and Public Health
Spotlight
Connection, Collaboration, Community—and Courage: Lessons from the 2025 Public Health Law Conference
The July 2025 Executive Order and the State of Harm Reduction in the US
Understanding the Impact of Executive Orders: Public Health in a Hostile Political Climate
Learn More
Real-time assistance for questions related to Executive Orders
The Network can assist local, county, tribal and state health agencies with timely guidance, resources and information critical to Executive Orders, particularly in the areas of:
- public health authority and emergency powers,
- constitutionality of practices,
- health data privacy,
- protections for disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals,
- crisis standards of care, and
- ethical decision making.
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