Not everything called “the law” carries the same legal force.
A statute, a regulation, an executive order, a court opinion, and an agency guidance memo are all different kinds of legal authority with different weight. The key question for any of them: who issued it, what authority supports it, and can it legally override another source?
A guidance document may explain how an agency thinks about the law, but it usually cannot create new binding duties by itself.
Guide to Government
Four Real Categories
Passed by Congress, signed or overridden
Laws passed by Congress and signed by the President, or enacted over a presidential veto — the foundational layer everything else builds on.
Binding, but only within granted authority
Agency rules issued under authority Congress has specifically granted — binding on the public, but only as long as they stay within that statutory grant.
Directs the executive branch, doesn’t bind the public directly
Presidential directives, orders, proclamations, and memoranda that direct executive-branch action — generally can’t create new legal obligations for the public the way a statute can.
Can interpret or invalidate the rest
Judicial decisions that interpret statutes and regulations, and can strike down either one if found to exceed constitutional or statutory authority.
An agency memo isn’t automatically binding law
A common misconception is that any official-looking document from a federal agency carries the same legal force as a regulation. Guidance documents, memos, and FAQ pages can explain how an agency currently interprets the law, but they generally can’t create new binding duties on their own — that distinction matters enormously in real disputes over whether an agency actually had authority to require something.
