Obama finding ways to wield power without executive orders
Comparing Obama’s use of executive power to his predecessors is tricky, however, since presidents can wield their authority in a number of ways. His executive orders tell only part of the story, experts say.
“They’re not the only measure of presidential assertion of authority,” said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin political science professor who has studied the presidency extensively. “He’s actually been pretty aggressive on a number of fronts.”
nstead of executive orders, Obama has enacted policy shifts through informal “executive actions” on issues like gun control, immigration and drone strikes overseas.
His 2011 decision to halt the deportations of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, for example, was communicated via a memo from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
That fact was not lost on Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who described the move as “an affront to the process of representative government.”
“He’s circumventing Congress with a directive he may not have the authority to execute,” Grassley said at the time.
The administration argued that it had the power to enforce the new policy through prosecutorial discretion.
Many of Obama’s boldest executive moves have come without a formal executive order.
Earlier this year, the president unveiled 23 separate executive “actions” meant to curb gun violence in the wake of the shooting spree that left 26 people dead at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Three of them — including a measure ordering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study the causes of gun violence — were communicated via formal memoranda.
Obama said. “Where they won’t act, I will."
The campaign included dozens of actions meant to address an array of issues, ranging from steps to help borrowers refinance the terms of home loans and create a new manufacturing hub in Ohio, to contentious recess appointments.
The measures — some controversial, some not — were accomplished through a combination of new regulations promulgated by agencies, executive orders and other directives.
Reached Wednesday for comment, one White House official acknowledged the president uses a wide variety of tools available to him as he looks for the best ways to implement his agenda.
At times, that has meant wading into murky legal territory.
The president has signaled his intention to move forward unilaterally on other issues, including steps to counter climate change.
with the stroke of a pen.. democracy withers... and a republic declines..