President Barack Obama is on shaky legal ground if he tries to issue an executive order pushing an immigration reform bill into law, according to Newsmax White House Correspondent John Gizzi.
"It's a lot of noise and a lot of smoke and mirrors. Quite frankly, to change the existing laws on immigration requires an act of Congress," Gizzi told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"This is not something that can be done by executive order … Executive orders affect only that which is done on government property or by government employees. It's very limited in what he can actually do.''
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Gizzi's comments came during a panel discussion on the Malzberg show with C. Edmund Wright, a columnist for Breitbart.com and American Thinker.
Wright believes the lack of a legal precedent won't necessarily stop the president, who is notorious for side-stepping the GOP by signing executive orders.
"The idea of a constitutional republic is kind of a quaint and outdated idea with this administration. But I have a different take. I would say, go ahead and make our day, please save [House Speaker] John Boehner and [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell from themselves," Wright said.
"The only thing that can prevent a total wipeout" for the Democrats in the midterm elections in 2014 "would be for the Republican establishment to totally alienate their base with an immigration reform bill that they worked on.
"So actually, from a political standpoint, I'm like go ahead, president. Do whatever you want to do. Harry Reid, do it. You'll be saving our establishment from their own isolated ignorance.''
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