Obama and the Lawsuit

All politics aside, I am curious to know if Obama has really exceeded his authority with some of his Executive Orders. CAN the president modify laws like that, specifically, delay implementation of ACA requirements? Is there precedent? I know I'm a big fan of the President's, but I really don't know much about all the legal stuff.

I really don't like the argument of "Bush had more EOs and the GOP didn't complain!" They're not complaining about the amount, they're complaining about what they do.

Also, I don't like the President's (whiny) defense of "Just because they aren't doing their job, doesn't mean I'm not allowed to do my job!" Well, if what you are doing ISN'T constitutional, then it means it ISN'T your job.


It doesn't help that people in the media or politics either don't understand the difference between Executive Orders and Executive Actions, or they intentionally mislead the public into thinking the President is doing more than he is. For example, the President never signed any Executive Orders restricting guns; he created a bunch of Executive Actions (basically memos) outlining what he thought should be done to curb gun violence and asking Congress to please think about considering to look at them.

Yeah, it seems weird that the House is suing the president for delaying parts of a law that they've tried to repeal 50 times, but the same people who complained about executive overreach under Bush now seem pretty silent with Obama (some liberals do seem pretty consistent, but Democrats are definitely shutting up).