Mr. Obama decided to expand an executive order that he issued in April 2015, after the Sony hacking. He signed it in Hawaii on Thursday morning, specifically giving himself and his successor the authority to issue travel bans and asset freezes on those who “tamper with, alter, or cause a misappropriation of information, with a purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.”
Are there any lawyers here who might explain whether this kind of executive order is unusual? The "giving himself and his successor the authority" part seems, well, undemocratic. Isn't it the Congress (as constrained by the Constitution) that typically gives the executive branch authority to do new things?