Executive Order 13775


Executive Order 13775 is the eleventh executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Signed on February 9, 2017, the order changes the line of succession for the Department of Justice. This order specifically reverses changes made to the DOJ line of succession that former President Barack Obama made in executive order 13762.

Background

On January 13, 2017, during the Presidential transition of Donald Trump, then President Obama issued executive order 13762. This order changed the Department of Justice line of succession to the following:
Notably, this order removed the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia from the fourth position in the line.
Following the resignation of Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the end of the presidential transition, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates ascended to the position of Acting Attorney General, a position she would presumably retain until the confirmation of Jeff Sessions, who was Donald Trump's nomination for the position.
On January 27, 2017, Trump signed Executive Order 13769, which placed limits on travel to the U.S. from certain countries, and by all refugees. This provoked several lawsuits, including Washington v. Trump, that sought to challenge the constitutionality of the order. On January 30, Yates publicly refused to defend the order, and also barred all other DOJ personnel from defending the order as well. Later that day Yates was fired for insubordination and the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Dana Boente, was appointed to the position of Acting Attorney General.
On February 9 Trump issued Executive Order 13775 which changed the DOJ's order of succession. This order designated the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia as the fourth position in the line, the position it formerly occupied.
This Executive Order was revoked on March 31, 2017.

Provisions

The executive order is broken down into four sections: