College Quarterback Asks Trump For Executive Order Expanding Playoffs, In Case You're Wondering About The Quality Of Civics Education - Above the Law

"Earlier this morning, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia took to the Artist Formerly Known As Twitter to tag Donald Trump and request an "Executive Order" to reconfigure the college football playoffs to add another four qualifiers. Such an expansion would, in theory, bring 10-2 Vanderbilt into the playoffs. Man, the poor ReliaQuest Bowl getting marked for executive action like it's an elite Am Law firm."

"Pavia has been playing in college for six years now, and is currently finishing up his Masters at Vanderbilt. Is Civics education completely broken in this country that people getting graduate degrees from elite institutions still don't understand that executive orders aren't royal decrees? Professor Lindsey Cormack, author of How To Raise A Citizen, conducted research on American Civics education and it's bleaker than you'd imagine."

"But the abject failure of American Civics education only sets the table. The entree of toxic sludge is the byproduct of the Trump administration's attempt to normalize executive action that a sixth grader in the 1980s would've instantly recognized as - to use the technical term - bullshit. Since the Donald Trump returned to office, he's aggressively issued executive orders purporting to take all sorts of action through monarchical edict."

A Vanderbilt quarterback publicly asked the president for an "Executive Order" to expand the college football playoffs, revealing a misunderstanding of executive authority. The player is completing a master's degree, underscoring civic knowledge gaps even among graduate students. Research indicates American civics education receives minimal funding and produces weak outcomes. The recent normalization of aggressive executive orders has deepened public confusion about presidential power. Presidents can direct executive agencies, but executive orders cannot change statutes or bypass Congress. Executive orders are not legislative instruments capable of overriding constitutional limits or substituting for congressional lawmaking.

Read at Above the Law