pardons and eo's.

[mopinko]

ok, i cd b wrong here, but i recall eo’s being pretty unassailable. pardons, ditto.
now the eo’s r falling in the courts over and over. he is clearly selling pardons. i suspect it’s only a matter of time b4 the courts overturn 1.

does this chip away at the power of the presidency? will the next obama lose these tools?
u cant chip little pieces off a delicately balanced system w/o throwing it off. every part of the constitution matters.

thoughts?

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Over the long arc, legitimacy matters.

He's losing because these are illegitimate actions. SCOTUS has a long script to write in re: legitimacy, legality as far as official acts, limited powers, privileges, and Executive-Legislative boundaries. EOs and signing statements are part of that. The entire Constitution is being parsed word for word, reinterpreted by contemporary viewpoints and language. Words evolve. We don't use the language or grammar like we did in 1791, e.g., 2A and 14A Sec3. SCOTUS cannot make crazy illegitimate actions into legitimate uses of power. But at the same time they can't or won't define the boundaries. Disputes are good business for lawyers and courts. We'd have no use of them if everything were defined precisely.