well actually in those two, they are mostly the same because both are under the power of the president. Just like how he told the DOJ to not arrest people complying with states medical marijuana laws. he can tell his cops to not arrest people. However he didnt do that at all. he said he wouldnt focus resources to deport people who have committed no other crime.. besides the ones caught crossing the borders, Like it or not that is in executive power, the only option on that is the vote or an amendment. or a law suit.. and yes they actually got his blocked but not because it wasnt in his power, but because he didnt give them the proper 30 day notice.
what would be different would be say an EO saying you would ignore an anti torture law as you signed it.
but since bush never actually violated that law, the order hasnt seen court.
OK back to the middle, dont fall for the EO bullshit man. Left or right, its all BS. They have many ways around an EO and the only reason they dont, is it is either rnot in their power, or they want to use it politically. and yes that includes the torture one.
you do know Obama closed gitmo with an EO?
he sure did on january 29th 2009.
but its still open. what happened?
congress defunded it. And they do this every single solitary budget and defence budget addon. they have to. Its actually an earmark just not the kind people normally talk about, but congress which controls the purse, in this case, killed his EO, by saying he couldnt spend a penny to close it. Order killed.
Congress has many means open to it. On many it can defund, many they can simply pass a law with enough votes to override vetos, and a few they can just take to court. All the king and dictator talk from both sides is just political BS. Without a doubt Obama has done a ton but nearly all have held up in court because nearly all were limited to the scope of the executive, the only one he lost on that was due to notification.
the president just doesnt have the ability to really thwart the will of congress to the point that they have no redress. It just sounds good cause you can use words like unilateral.. and who doesnt like to use words like that.