(iPoster) Consider the Showerhead: The Limits of Executive Order 14264

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Public Administration & Political Organizations and Parties
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Public Administration

Abstract

Water flow seems an unlikely policy for theorizing presidential power. Yet executive order 14264, Donald Trump’s 2025 repeal of the Department of Energy’s regulatory definition of “showerhead” raises a puzzle: Why did a presidential priority framed as both urgent and popular fail to generate any measurable implementation effects? By examining DOE rulemaking documents, Federal Registrar notices, APA rulemaking, proceedings on showerhead definitions, and stakeholder statements, this paper offers a grounded interpretive approach for analyzing symbolic executive action as a distinct mode of presidential governance. This case study finds that EO 14264 exposes the real limits of executive unilateralism. Despite rhetorical salience, agencies declined to alter enforcement standards. Nor has the EO produced measurable effects on manufacturer design, market availability, or consumer experience. Showerhead rules demonstrate how bureaucratic procedure, statutory constraints, and administrative norms can neutralize symbolic presidential initiatives.

Author

• Emily Gessner, University of Toledo