Trump is hardly the first president to make use of an executive order in order to circumvent Congress. Back in February, 2011, President Obama began contemplating strikes against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Article I, Section 8, of the US Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war. But a search of contemporaneous headlines quickly reveals that extremely few news stories from the time mentioned the device by which the President would impose strikes on Libya – an executive order.
After Obama decided on military action without Congressional approval, almost no stories mention ‘executive order’ or national emergency or the Constitutionality of this decision; in stark contrast to stories on Trump’s border decision, which has always been framed by in these terms.
Unlike with Trump’s border action, stories before Obama declared his emergency order are bland, milquetoast fare. This CNN headline from Feb. 24, 2011 is representative: ‘Obama condemns Libyan violence, calls for international response’. Neither the headline nor the accompanying story hint at Obama’s executive order to come, the very next day.
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