How to cite an executive order
You need to cite a presidential executive order. Federal Register or Code of Federal Regulations? Which date goes in the parenthetical: the day it was signed, the day it was published, or the day it took effect? And how do you find the right page?
If an order you're citing raised a problem we don't cover here, such as an amendment or a revocation, reply below.
The team’s answer
Short answer. Cite the order by number to the Federal Register, with the date of the Register issue: Exec. Order No. 14130, 89 Fed. Reg. 105343 (Dec. 27, 2024). If you cite the Title 3 compilation of the C.F.R. instead, give the page and the compilation year printed on the volume that actually contains the order. Read the order itself for its signing and effective dates, which can be different days.
Why the Federal Register [Requirement]
Presidential proclamations and executive orders are published in the Federal Register, except those without general applicability and legal effect, or effective only against federal agencies or persons in their capacity as officers, agents or employees. 44 U.S.C. § 1505(a)(1).
The form [House style]
Exec. Order No. 14130, 89 Fed. Reg. 105343 (Dec. 27, 2024).
The Register heads it "Executive Order 14130 of December 20, 2024," with no comma in the number. Our form dates the cite by the Register issue, Friday, December 27, 2024; if the signing date matters, mention it in your text. If your court or style guide dates orders another way, follow it.
An older order, cited both ways:
Exec. Order No. 12866, 58 Fed. Reg. 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993).
Exec. Order No. 12866, 3 C.F.R. 638 (1993 Comp.).
One order, several dates [Requirement]
Signed: December 20, 2024, the date in the order's heading and under the President's signature.
Effective: most of its amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial took effect on the date of the order. Section 4 sets December 22, 2024 for three rules, and section 5 sets December 23, 2024 for one more.
Published: December 27, 2024, in the Register issue that begins at page 105343.
So every effective date in this order comes before the Register issue that printed it. The issue date in your citation says when the public text appeared, not when the order took effect.
The Title 3 volume [House style]
Title 3 of the C.F.R. gathers each year's presidential documents into an annual compilation. Give the page and the compilation label printed on the volume you actually opened, such as "1993 Comp." above. Don't work the year out from the order's dates or copy it from another document's cross-reference; open the volume.
Common mistakes
Dating the order by its signing date in one cite and by the Register issue in the next.
Giving the effective date as the order's date.
Assuming an order took effect on the day it was signed or published, without reading its effective-date sections.
Copying a compilation year from a cross-reference without checking the volume.
Read more
The Regulations chapter, which covers presidential documents (its opening is free to read): https://citationcode.com/book/regulations (opens in a new tab)
Federal Register citations, each checked against its source: https://citationcode.com/examples/how-to-cite-the-federal-register (opens in a new tab)