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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 10157 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10157—Enabling Certain Employees of the Federal Government to Acquire a Competitive Status

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Monday, August 28, 1950
•
2 min read (403 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (403 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Except as provided by paragraph 2 hereof, any employee of the Federal Government without competitive status who on the date of this order is serving in an active-duty status in an office or position in the competitive service of the Government shall be entitled to and shall acquire a competitive status upon compliance with the following conditions: (1) The employee shall have served continuously in a full-time, active-duty status in the competitive service, without a break in service of more than sixty calendar days, during the two years immediately prior to the date of this order: Provided, that military service shall not be regarded as a break in service.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Harry S Truman on August 28, 1950, this order concerns Enabling Certain Employees of the Federal Government to Acquire a Competitive Status. Except as provided by paragraph 2 hereof, any employee of the Federal Government without competitive status who on the date of this order is serving in an active-duty status in an office or position in the competitive service of the Government shall be entitled to and shall acquire a competitive status upon compliance with the following conditions: (1) The employee shall have served continuously in a full-time…

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Except as provided by paragraph 2 hereof, any employee of the Federal Government without competitive status who on the date of this order is serving in an active-duty status in an office or position in the competitive service of the Government shall be entitled to and shall acquire a competitive status upon compliance with the following conditions: (1) The employee shall have served continuously in a full-time, active-duty status in the competitive service, without a break in service of more than sixty calendar days, during the two years immediately prior to the date of this order: Provided, that military service shall not be regarded as a break in service.

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The employee must successfully qualify in such suitable noncompetitive examination as the Civil Service Commission may prescribe: Provided, that only one such noncompetitive examination shall be given him. 2.

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This order shall not be applicable to (a) postmasters; (b) rural carriers in those cases with respect to which there is an existing register of eligibles for filling the positioning question or with respect to which an examination has been announced by the Civil Service Commission for filling such position; and (c) persons not entitled to veteran preference who are serving in positions which are by law or by Executive order restricted to preference eligibles. 3.

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For the purposes of this order, employees who are on active military duty on the date hereof shall be considered as being in an active-duty status. 4.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service 🏷️ National Security & Defense 🏷️ Labor & Employment
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§

"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)

Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
43 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
403
2,401 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
20.4
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 2 of the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 404) and by section 1753 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. Except as provided by paragraph 2 hereof, any employee of the Federal Government without competitive status who on the date of this order is serving in an active-duty status in an office or position in the competitive service of the Government shall be entitled to and shall acquire a competitive status upon compliance with the following conditions: (1) The employee shall have served continuously in a full-time, active-duty status in the competitive service, without a break in service of more than sixty calendar days, during the two years immediately prior to the date of this order: Provided, that military service shall not be regarded as a break in service. (b) If his employment is evaluated under an efficiency rating system, the most recent rating of the employee must be "Good" or better, and if his employment is not so evaluated, the head of the agency in which he is employed must certify to the Civil Service Commission that the employee has served with merit for six months or longer immediately prior to the date of such certification. (c) The acquisition of competitive status by the employee must be recommended by the head of the agency in which he is employed within six months of the date of this order. (d) The employee must successfully qualify in such suitable noncompetitive examination as the Civil Service Commission may prescribe: Provided, that only one such noncompetitive examination shall be given him. 2. This order shall not be applicable to (a) postmasters; (b) rural carriers in those cases with respect to which there is an existing register of eligibles for filling the positioning question or with respect to which an examination has been announced by the Civil Service Commission for filling such position; and (c) persons not entitled to veteran preference who are serving in positions which are by law or by Executive order restricted to preference eligibles. 3. For the purposes of this order, employees who are on active military duty on the date hereof shall be considered as being in an active-duty status. 4. The Civil Service Commission shall promulgate regulations to effectuate the purposes of this order. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

August 28, 1950

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

References Executive Order 10288—Further Amending Executive Order No. 10157 of August 28, 1950, Enabling Certain Employees of the Federal Government to Acquire a Competitive Status
Harry S Truman • 1951-09-07
References Executive Order 10217—Amending Paragraph 1(c) of Executive Order No. 10157 of August 28, 1950, Enabling Certain Employees of the Federal Government to Acquire a Competitive Status
Harry S Truman • 1951-02-26
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 10,157 (Aug. 28, 1950), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10157-enabling-certain-employees-the-federal-government-acquire.