The Chicago Tribune on how Trump’s executive orders are nothing new and neither are the court challenges:

At the Illinois Holocaust Museum, soon to undergo a major renovation, a heart-tugging special exhibit in Skokie explores the internment of Japanese Americans in U.S. prison camps during World War II.

Front and center as visitors enter the exhibit? An executive order from the desk of then-President Franklin Roosevelt.

The notorious Order 9066 paved the way for imprisoning citizens, declaring the West Coast a war zone and thus permitting it to be cleared of anyone with Japanese heritage after the Pearl Harbor attack. Shamefully, more than 120,000 people were rounded up under threat of arrest and moved to harsh makeshift camps under armed guard.

Americans have been hearing a lot about executive orders since President Donald Trump took office in January. During his speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump bragged about already having signed more than 100 executive orders (some in front of cameras) and taking more than 400 executive actions — piling them up at a much faster pace than he did during his first term.

Courts across the country are considering challenges, upholding some of Trump’s orders for now and temporarily blocking others. People losing their minds over this spectacle need to remember that executive orders numbering in the hundreds are part of every modern administration, as are the court challenges.

Presidential orders and actions shaped American history long before Trump, for good and bad. ...

Through executive action, Trump has launched jarring attacks on civil servants, immigrants in the country without legal permission, LGTBQ people and anyone involved in diversity initiatives.

He pardoned felons who attacked police in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, while also targeting government watchdogs. ... With Congress in the hands of Trump’s GOP, the pressure very much is on the judiciary to call balls and strikes.

Executive orders are unlawful if they override federal laws and statutes, and the president cannot use them to sidestep checks and balances, such as the power vested in Congress to make new laws or vested in the courts to determine if an executive action is constitutional. ...

Some of the president’s most devoted followers like to think of the U.S. as uniquely virtuous and their hero as practically infallible. But to avoid repeating America’s past sins, it’s critical to acknowledge them when they occur and that includes Order 9066.

Believing presidents can do no wrong exposes our great country to the risk of committing more wrongs in the future.