President Joe Biden is getting some encouragement from legendary gymnast Simone Biles to use his last days in the White House wisely.
In a tweet posted on Wednesday afternoon, the seven-time Olympic gold medalist asked Biden to make the most of his lame-duck period, though she notably didn’t give him any specific instructions.
“Mr. Biden, I need you to stand up, straighten your back and make some things shake before your departure,” Biles tweeted, before concluding with: “xoxo the women in America,” with a blue heart emoji.
As the lame-duck president, Biden still controls the executive branch of the federal government for the next 75 days until Jan. 20, 2025, when President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. And as the outgoing president, all cabinet secretaries of all federal agencies still report to Biden until next January.
While Biden would still need Congress to pass legislation for him to sign into law between now and Jan. 20, Biden still has the power of the pen to sign executive orders that will be in place until Trump takes the oath of office. While Trump has the power to undo executive orders, Biden can still make efforts to frustrate Trump’s attempts to reshape the federal government, as he did by strengthening protections for federal workers this spring.
One key component of Project 2025 — which Republicans are now admitting is the Trump agenda — is the gutting of the federal civil service via an executive order known as “Schedule F,” which Trump signed in 2020 and Biden promptly rescinded after taking office. That executive order removed protections for federal workers and would allow a president to drastically increase the number of direct presidential appointees from approximately 5,000 to more than 54,000. But in April, Biden announced that he had announced new protections for federal workers “from political interference,” perhaps to head off a potential new Schedule F executive order.
“Day in and day out, career civil servants provide the expertise and continuity necessary for our democracy to function. They provide Americans with life-saving and life-changing services and put opportunity within reach for millions,” he stated. “That’s why since taking office, I have worked to strengthen, empower, and rebuild our career workforce. This rule is a step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference to ensure civil servants are able to focus on the most important task at hand: delivering for the American people.”
And as the Supreme Court decided in July, presidents are effectively above all laws provided they categorize any potential crime as an “official act.” Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor even warned that the immunity ruling would mean that presidents could assassinate political opponents without fear of prosecution, provided they refer to it as an “official act.”
“Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency,” Sotomayor wrote in her official dissent. “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
