That can be the subject of an official proclamation during Hour One of a Democratic presidency.
Government agencies should be put on notice during the interregnum* that they’d better get their asses in gear and be ready to revise websites pronto when the new Administration begins.
To avoid confusion: by “interregnum” I mean the period of time between Republican defeat and the inauguration of a Democrat. Looking up the definition of the word with the aid of AI, we see:
Seeing that we don’t have a normal leader currently, the entire period between now and Inauguration Day 2029 could be viewed as an interregnum.
This thread really illustrates the difference between my objections to the Trump approach and that of some others.
While I have serious policy differences with DJT, my number one objection is that he is governing as a dictator. So to me, doing the opposite of what Trump would do requires the next President to stop ruling by decree.
The law says that geographic names are set by the United States Board on Geographic Names, not presidential decree.
Googling the board composition a bit, I am unsure how quickly the composition could legally change to reflect the views of the new administration. But if the lake and gulf are named back in week one, that tells me we almost surely still have, at best, a hybrid regime sometimes ruled by decree.
I don’t have a big problem if the President sends a polite letter to the United States Board on Geographic Names asking them to consider renaming.
Someone can correct me, but I do not think these are all political appointees who can legally be fired and hired on presidential say-so. The Secretary of the Interior has some legitimate influence, but first that person should be confirmed.
Compared to rule by decree, democracy is slower. Getting rid the filibuster would make our democracy a little faster, and I favor that. But legality still takes time.
Did Trump follow the guidance in the link above, such as asking for feedback from Indian tribes, and from the equivalent boards in Canada and Mexico? No. That was wrong! And obvious as it is that they prefer the old names, you cannot assume they will be happy to still be ignored.
Article 3, par. 2 of the US constitution provides:
“2: In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellateJurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”
I infer from this that congress could by statute take away the power of the court to decide on constitutionality of acts of congress. They have chosen not to but this clause would seem to clearly give them the right to. Or they could require a 3/4 majority to declare laws unconstitutional. Or even unanimity.
Executive orders have been a staple of past administrations. Biden signed about 175 of them, Obama 277.
The process can certainly be abused, as Trump has done. We can argue the legitimacy of some executive orders, but they’re a viable tool under the Constitution.
I think he was legally allowed to rejoin with 30 days notice, which is what that executive order did.
You could say that every international agreement requires a 2/3 Senate treaty approval vote. But even George Washington did not read the constitution that way.
I would think the best way to do it would be for the next President to quietly inform the United States Board on Geographic Names to rename them back to Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico. No executive order, no news conference, just a quiet request.
And that’s how they ought to do a lot of this stuff; just set it right, without making a political point. In a few cases, maybe have some political points to make, but in general just set it right.
I’d also try to push any anti-authoritarian type checks and balances through Congress the same way; don’t make a big deal of it. Not that the media won’t get wind of it, but don’t make any of it grandstanding or anything like that.
But DO it. They dropped the ball in Biden’s term and from what I can tell, didn’t even try very much.