Only if you think a lot of them should have been struck down for some reason. But since Presidents do tend understand what an Executive Order can and can't do, there's no reason to think a lot of them should have been.
"Our impass seems to be focused on what is or isn’t open to presidents to address through Executive Orders."
Yes, that's what I was addressing. Executive Orders are generally directions to the Executive department, all the agencies and employees that report to him. They aren't laws and generally don't have any authority over the general public.
The only place where they might is where the President has such authority in the first place. The order is just the means to execute that authority.
The common misunderstanding is that Executive Orders are laws handed down by the President about anything he likes.
"If a president chooses to address a matter, he can."
He could issue an order telling the sun to stop shining. It doesn't make much sense to argue about what he COULD write. The fact is, just as he has no authority over the sun, he can't order anything else unless he already has the authority to do it.
I went back and reviewed the Executive Orders Obama had issued through March of 2010. I would have to say that review of them did lead me to believe you have a better case to be made than I do.
His directives seem to be geared toward setting up commissions and the like.
My curiosity was peeked by the idea that he may have issued some EOs related to the Gulf oil spill. And if he did, I couldn’t find record of them.
He is able to give direction to agencies within the federal government that changes the way the game is played, and this he did related to the Gulf oil spill.
These are the types of actions that folks are worried about. The guy wields a lot of power, and Congress isn’t the go-between that we wish it was in many instances.
I believe you are correct related to EOs unless there’s something I’m missing. I appreciate the discussion.
The time frame from now until the new Congress is seated, could provide some new problems along the lines of what we have been discussing. We’ll have to see how it goes. From what I’ve observed, your take should win out. For all our sakes, I hope so.
This guy and this current Congress will find a way to create mischief if there is one.