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Time zones in the US are regulated by the Department of Transport, and can thus be changed by the executive without new legislation. Could Trump order the DoT to put the continental US in time zones UTC-24005 to UTC-24008 instead of UTC-5 to UTC-8 and thus delay Biden’s inauguration by a thousand days (as measured by UTC).

Mike Scott
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    Can Trump order the Space Force to put the continental US in the Crab Nebula and thus delay Biden's inauguration by 6000 years? Can Trump order the Library of Congress to put the continental US in Wonderland and delay Biden's inauguration until the Queen of Hearts gets her tarts back? – Obie 2.0 Jan 03 '21 at 06:49
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    @Obie2.0 Not a good analogy at all, because the time zone can be changed with the stroke of a pen – Mike Scott Jan 03 '21 at 06:52
  • The US is no more in a non-existent UTC time zone than it is in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter can write whatever he likes, but that does not make it true. – Obie 2.0 Jan 03 '21 at 06:53
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    Gotta say, hilarious idea, even if it's a bad question. – JonathanReez Jan 03 '21 at 06:53
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    @Obie2.0 Time zones are purely manmade. No time zone exists until someone starts using it. And any time zone that any country declares it is using exists exactly as much as any other time zone. – Mike Scott Jan 03 '21 at 07:13
  • So is my hypothetical Crab Nebula zone, where the time is offset by the distance from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich divided by the speed of light. Anyone can make up anything and call it anything, but in reality four years is what it is, ignoring relativity. – Obie 2.0 Jan 03 '21 at 07:19
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    Don't give him ideas! – Déjà vu Jan 03 '21 at 13:31
  • Besides the sheer idiocy of such a move from a political point of view, there are many real-world issues to consider: machinery and computer programs may very well blow up catastrophically and no one else in the world would know US time, bringing significant costs to businesses and individuals. "Stroke of a pen" would run into the real-world and the real world doesn't care about hurt feelings. – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica Jan 04 '21 at 19:27
  • Honestly, he'd probably go for it if he thought of it or realizes they exist – Azor Ahai -him- Jan 04 '21 at 20:56
  • Does this answer your question? Changing the local time of Washington, D.C – divibisan Mar 16 '21 at 21:01

1 Answers1

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No.

15 USC § 261 gives the Department of Transport the ability to define the boundaries between time zones, but it sets in law how far behind UTC the time zones themselves are.

Joe C
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    So Trump’s Presidency could be extended by six hours, by putting Washington DC in UTC-11 on 20 January. – Mike Scott Jan 03 '21 at 09:20
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    But under the same statute UTC is subject to interpretation and modification "by the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the Secretary of the Navy." – phoog Jan 04 '21 at 16:45