President Trump announces Executive Orders aimed at slashing overregulation within federal agencies: CEI analysis

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On Wednesday, President Trump announced several Executive Orders aimed at slashing overregulation in federal agencies through sunsetting and repealing outdated or unnecessary rules. The Orders focus on regulations that were deemed “unlawful” following recent Supreme Court decisions as well as rules that stifled energy independence and competition. CEI experts applauded the Trump administration’s deregulatory initiatives.

CEI Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies Wayne Crews said:

“In invoking the ten specific Supreme Court cases, President Trump’s new ‘Directing the Repeal of Unlawful Regulations’ executive memorandum expounds upon EO 14219, which requires agency heads to review all regulations under their agencies that might be unlawful or unconstitutional.

“This new initiative goes beyond previous orders invoking typical platitudes about efficiency, cost-benefit and ‘outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective’ by specifically invoking ‘deconstruction’ of an administrative state now largely regarded as unconstitutional and irredeemable.

“According to a fact sheet accompanying the new directive, ‘good cause’ flips from its conventional incarnation of promoting to eliminating regulation: ‘Trump’s memorandum directs agencies to revoke these unlawful regulations expeditiously, using the Administrative Procedure Act’s (“APA”) ‘good cause’ exception where appropriate.’

“A parallel Trump directive to inject sunset dates into existing and new rules is something long overdue, and complements Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-IA) SCRUB Act. The administration seems to be making all efforts to create a target inventory for revocations before the government releases the new Unified Agenda of Regulation.

“I would encourage the White House to release further directives tying the current deregulatory EOs together. And I would also strongly recommend directives reestablishing guidance document portals at agencies.”

CEI Senior Fellow James Broughel said:

“President Trump’s new executive order establishing a zero-based regulatory budgeting framework represents a long-overdue paradigm shift in the way we approach federal regulation. For too long, our regulatory system has operated on bureaucratic autopilot, where rules, once enacted, are rarely revisited and even more rarely repealed. This has led to a bloated and counterproductive regulatory code that hinders innovation and slows growth.

“President Trump’s executive order reverses this inertia by applying the common-sense principle of zero-based budgeting to energy regulations. The executive order echoes successful reforms implemented at the state level, most notably in Idaho, where a zero-based regulation system with a sunset review process enabled the state to eliminate tens of thousands of unnecessary regulatory restrictions and earn recognition as the least regulated state in the nation.

“Incorporating sunset provisions into the federal rulemaking process fosters accountability and ensures that regulations must continually justify their existence. This is not about deregulation for its own sake, but about building a leaner, more effective government that serves the people.

“I applaud President Trump for his leadership in launching the first federal regulatory budget and now for taking the next step toward zero-based regulation. I encourage the administration to extend this process across all federal agencies—not just energy regulators—and for Congress to institutionalize this effort by codifying it into lasting law.”

CEI Senior Fellow and Director of Finance Policy John Berlau said:

“Kudos to the Trump administration for this EO’s instruction to agencies to repeal regulations that authorize juryless in-house administrative courts in violation of the Supreme Court’s holding in SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109 (2024). In Jarkesy, the Court recognized that the SEC’s forcing those it accuses of common-law crimes to bypass a jury trial in favor of the SEC’s in-house administrative court is a violation of the Seventh Amendment’s fundamental right to trial by jury.

“One of the main grievances of the Founding Fathers that led to the Revolutionary War was the growing use by Great Britain of sketchy, juryless venues like admiralty courts to prosecute colonists for offenses such as smuggling. Listed prominently among the causes of discontent in the Declaration of Independence is Britain’s ‘depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury.’ Thankfully, the Court last year reaffirmed that this fundamental right must be respected and cannot be trampled, and the Trump administration is now ensuring this ruling is respected.”

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