President Donald Trump has signed 22 executive actions since taking office, including eight executive orders, according to The American Presidency Project.
Some of the papers he signed were executive orders that dealt with building the wall he promised along the U.S.-Mexico border; temporarily banning entry to the U.S. by refugees and people from seven majority-Muslim nations; and beginning to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, according to the Associated Press.
In about the same time period, President Obama had signed nine executive orders, according to the presidency project.
In a recent interview, David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, explained what an executive order is, and how presidents use them.
What is an executive order?
"An executive order is really any instruction issued by the president to the rest of the federal government or to some part of it," Boaz said.
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On Vetting Orders
"It does seem like President Trump’s have been more poorly thought-out, not as carefully planned," he said.
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High-Impact Orders
"The order that was issued to block immigration from seven countries that obviously had a lot of impact and for the next 90 or 120 days it will likely continue to," he said.
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What Order Has No Immediate Impact
"The order that said build the wall really was about: write a plan for how much it will cost. ..., " he said.
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On Constitutional Authority
"The big issue with executive orders is whether they are done within the president’s constitutional authority," he said.
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On Other Executive Actions
"The other thing to keep in mind is that if we only focus on exec orders we miss a lot of presidential and administration rule making," he said.
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