Schoolhouse Rock and Executive Powers

Schoolhouse Rock and Executive Powers

On several occasions during his tenure in office, President Obama has made statements and comments describing his stance on whether or not to shield illegal immigrants in America from deportation.  The problem seemed to come to a new head this past November, when the President seemingly turned from this statement to take executive action to shield four million illegal immigrants facing deportation. The issues and questions surrounding the President’s actions are numerous. Is his use of “executive action” legal? How does this affect us? How does this affect the economy? How does this action apply to? Is there anyway Congress could prevent this action? How is this different than an “executive order”? And the list continues. Thankfully, Max Ehrenfreund at the Washington Post compiled a fantastic article detailing these questions. When my students began asking similar questions I thought to myself, “I wonder if people realize President Obama is not our first President to use executive power to make a move on an issue pressing our country?”

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