Critical EO That Cripples the Power of Regulatory Agencies & Few Noticed

President Donald Trump issued a powerful executive order that takes the floor out of a federal government that prosecutes Americans for obscure rules passed by unelected bureaucrats in federal agencies. Without this order, the government can get you any time they want, and you might not even know you committed a crime.

The “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations” order was issued last Friday. It limits the federal government’s ability to prosecute Americans for violating regulations when they had no ill intent.

The internal effects of a mutable policy are still more calamitous. It poisons the blessings of liberty itself. It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood: if they be repealed or revised before they are promulg[at]ed, or undergo such incessant changes, that no man who knows what the law is to-day, can guess what it will be to-morrow.

~ James Madison on the mischievous effects of mutable government in The Federalist no. 62 (1788) 

Over 175,000 pages of difficult-to-understand regulations represent hundreds of thousands of crimes. Many include criminal penalties, which could imprison ordinary Americans who didn’t know they committed a crime.

The order requires federal agencies to list regulations that carry a criminal penalty and publicize them within a year. It also cripples prosecutions where there is no evidence of bad intent.

Well-Explained:

There are an estimated over 5000 federal crimes and hundreds of thousands of regulatory crimes.

This would’ve been unimaginable to our Founding Fathers.

Watch @JonathanTurley testify about over criminalization.⬇️ pic.twitter.com/600lcRk6nD

— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) May 7, 2025

“Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations,”

The Purpose of the Executive Order

The United States is drastically overregulated. The Code of Federal Regulations contains over 48,000 sections, stretching over 175,000 pages — far more than any citizen can possibly read, let alone fully understand. Worse, many carry potential criminal penalties for violations. The situation has become so dire that no one -– likely including those charged with enforcing our criminal laws at the Department of Justice — knows how many separate criminal offenses are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, with at least one source estimating hundreds of thousands of such crimes. Many of these regulatory crimes are “strict liability” offenses, meaning that citizens need not have a guilty mental state to be convicted of a crime.

This status quo is absurd and unjust. It allows the executive branch to write the law, in addition to executing it. That situation can lend itself to abuse and weaponization by providing Government officials tools to target unwitting individuals. It privileges large corporations, which can afford to hire expensive legal teams to navigate complex regulatory schemes and fence out new market entrants, over average Americans.

The purpose of this order is to ease the regulatory burden on everyday Americans and ensure no American is transformed into a criminal for violating a regulation they have no reason to know exists.

Emphasis added.

Responses

“The order prioritizes criminal prosecution only for those who knowingly violate regulations and cause significant harm, while discouraging strict liability offenses. It also mandates that agencies compile and publicly post lists of all enforceable criminal regulatory offenses.

This is a step in the right direction for people who value freedom and the rule of law.”

~ Civil Rights Attorney, Laura Powell

“Most have no clue just exactly how the federal government weaponized obscure federal laws even falsely interpreting vague and nonexistent laws against citizens.”

~ Tony Seruga, Investor, former CIA, NSA

“Trump’s new EO on overcriminalization hits on something we’ve been digging into for a while. In our study, we found 5,199 federal crimes—up 36% since 1994—scattered across 1,500+ statutes. It’s quite messy! And, it’s why this kind of reform matters.”

~ Liya Palagashvili, Economist, George Mason University

Steven Nekhaila, the chair of the Libertarian Party, praised the order but said it should only be the beginning of an effort to disentangle the federal regulatory code.

“President Trump’s recent executive order addressing the over-criminalization of federal regulations is a commendable step toward restoring individual liberties and curbing governmental overreach,” wrote Nekhaila.

“However, this executive action should be the beginning, not the end, of efforts to dismantle the labyrinth of federal regulations that infringe upon personal freedoms,” he added. “We urge continued vigilance and action to ensure that laws serve to protect rights rather than punish inadvertent noncompliance.”

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