Health Law Advisor

On July 24, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14321, titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” (“the E.O.”).

Although the E.O. has a number of elements, the one most notable for behavioral health stakeholders is a policy to increase use of involuntary commitment for mental health and substance use disorder treatment. The introduction proclaimed: “Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.”

The backlash to the suggestion of a sweeping lock-up of people because of mental illness and addiction was swift and fierce. Many advocates and commenters immediately called out the E.O. as criminalizing mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. However, as a matter of federal policy, the civil commitment provision of the E.O. may have less impact than some of its other components.

On January 20, 2025, a new administration took control of the Executive Branch of the federal government, and it has signaled that it will make aggressive use of executive orders.  This would be a good time to review the scope of executive orders and how they may affect employers and health care organizations.

Executive orders are not mentioned in the Constitution, but they have been around since the time of George Washington. Executive orders are signed, written, and published orders from the President of the United States that manage and direct the Executive Branch and are binding on Executive Branch agencies.  Executive orders can be used to implement or clarify existing federal law or policies and can direct and manage the way federal agencies interact with private entities.   However, executive orders are not a substitute for either statutes or regulations.

The current procedure for implementing executive orders was set out in a 1962 executive order that requires that all such orders must be published in the Federal Register, the same publication where executive agencies publish proposed and final rules. Once published, any executive order can be revoked or modified simply by issuing a new executive order.  In addition, Congress can ratify an existing executive order in cases where the authority may be ambiguous.

How will the Trump administration handle discrimination cases involving transgender employees? The EEOC’s pursuit of a sex discrimination claim on behalf of Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman who was terminated by a Michigan funeral home for expressing her intention to dress in conformance with her gender identity, will be an early indicator.

In a brief filed with the Sixth Circuit on January 26, 2017, Stephens argues that the interests of transgender individuals will not be adequately represented under the new administration. Under the Obama administration, the EEOC sued ...