[JoeRedskin]

Sure, other Presidents used and misused the executive order process. However, prior to Obama, even the misuses were characterized as an appropriate use of executive power (explaining how existing laws would be enforced, invoking the Constitutional authority of Commander-in-Chief, etc.).

Under the Obama administration, and for the first time that I am aware, the President used executive orders with the express intent of bypassing the Constitutional process and to use the executive power to take legislative actions on a broader scale then ever before. Very simply, even though he issued fewer than most presidents before him, the breadth and scope of the orders he issued, particularly after 2016, were simply unprecedented.