Hat tip for the chart to David Damico.
President Obama is accused by Republicans of exceeding his Constitutional authority by issuing an executive order to allow up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants who meet certain conditions to stay in this country.
An executive order is simply a directive by a President to federal departments or the armed forces to follow a policy.
With the increase in the size and scope of the federal government, executive orders become more and more necessary to make the government work. But so does the need for checks and balances to prevent abuse of executive power.
The Constitutional authority to issue executive orders comes from provisions vesting the “executive power” of the U.S. government in the President, making the President commander-in-chief of the armed forces and ordering the President to make sure that the laws be faithfully executed.
The most far-reaching executive order in American history was the Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln claimed power as commander-in-chief to order the confiscation of property of the enemy.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued more executive orders than any other President. On the day he was inaugurated, he ordered the temporary closing of American banks. Another executive order was to forbid American citizens to hoard gold coins or bullion. FDR’s most infamous executive order was the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War Two.
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