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Comment by orblivion | Hacker News Reader

As others have said, the executive is in charge of applying laws. So if you take the example of the ACA, Trump can't just overturn it. But, he can instruct the relevant departments to half-ass their enforcement of it.

That said, I feel the same way. I'm not an Obama supporter, but I gotta wonder why he wasn't even more aggressive than he was with the orders.

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> I'm not an Obama supporter, but I gotta wonder why he wasn't even more aggressive than he was with the orders.

Republicons constantly accused Obama of signing too many "unconstitutional" executive orders.

He had Congress entirely against him, that's why. The threat of everyone below you turning on you (remember the government shutdown?) and kicking and screaming against your actions no matter how you compromise (remember the nightmare it was to even create the ACA?) are normally deterrent enough from abusing executive orders. Heck, even Obama was heavily criticized for his use of executive orders, which was pretty high compared to previous administrations. But now that there is no internal opposition with a fully red government, it's smooth sailing to get these things done.

Is it a matter of retribution? If Trump issues an order that Congress didn't like, what could they do? Their job is to create laws, not interfere with the enforcement thereof.

> If Trump issues an order that Congress didn't like, what could they do?

In terms of substantive, direct, responses (e.g., excluding retaliating against other Presidential initiatives and appointments), major notable options include:

(1) Expressly prohibit the things called for in the order by legislation (overriding a veto, of necessary);

(2) Sue the administration claiming the order violates existing (statute or Constitutional) law;

(3) Impeach and remove the President.

They could pass laws that override the order, or, which was what happened constantly during Obama's turn, simply vote against all directives put forward by the president and his party as a sign of disapproval. They can also vote to strip resources from organizations tasked with carrying out executive orders. Now, Trump's most recent orders have lined up very well with the extreme end of the right wing, so they aren't going to try to stop him.

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