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Executive Order 11486 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations

Executive Order 11486—Creating an Emergency Board to Investigate Disputes Between the Carriers Represented by the National Railway Labor Conference and Certain of Their Employees

Richard Nixon Richard Nixon
•
Friday, October 3, 1969
•
5 min read (998 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 5 min read (998 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate these disputes.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 Richard Nixon on October 3, 1969, this order concerns Creating an Emergency Board to Investigate Disputes Between the Carriers Represented by the National Railway Labor Conference and Certain of Their Employees. I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate these disputes. No member of the board shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of railroad employees or any carrier. The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the disputes within thirty days from the date of this order.

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate these disputes.

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The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the disputes within thirty days from the date of this order.

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As provided by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, from this date and for thirty days after board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by the carriers represented by the National Railway Labor Conference, or by their employees, in the conditions out of which the disputes arose.

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LIST A EASTERN RAILROADS Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad Company Ann Arbor Railroad Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad Company Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company Boston and Maine Corporation Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Buffalo Creek Railroad Canadian National Railways-- Great Lakes Region--Lines in the United States St. Lawrence Region--Lines in the United States Canadian Pacific Railway Central Railroad Company of New Jersey Central Vermont Railway, Inc. Chicago River & Indiana Railroad Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad Chicago Union Station Company Cincinnati Union Terminal Company Cleveland Union Terminals Company Delaware and Hudson…

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Infrastructure & Transportation 🏷️ 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

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
30 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.

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

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

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
998
7,116 characters
Estimated Read Time
5 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
35.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS disputes exist between the carriers represented by the National Railway Labor Conference, designated in List A attached hereto and made a part hereof, and certain of their employees represented by the Employees' Conference Committee composed of labor organizations designated in List B attached hereto and made a part hereof; and WHEREAS these disputes have not heretofore been adjusted under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended; and WHEREAS these disputes, in the judgment of the National Mediation Board, threaten substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive the country of essential transportation service:

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended (45 U.S.C. 160), I hereby create a board of three members, to be appointed by me, to investigate these disputes. No member of the board shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of railroad employees or any carrier. The board shall report its findings to the President with respect to the disputes within thirty days from the date of this order. As provided by section 10 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, from this date and for thirty days after board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by the carriers represented by the National Railway Labor Conference, or by their employees, in the conditions out of which the disputes arose. Richard Nixon

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

October 3, 1969. LIST A EASTERN RAILROADS Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad Company Ann Arbor Railroad Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad Company Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company Boston and Maine Corporation Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Buffalo Creek Railroad Canadian National Railways-- Great Lakes Region--Lines in the United States St. Lawrence Region--Lines in the United States Canadian Pacific Railway Central Railroad Company of New Jersey Central Vermont Railway, Inc. Chicago River & Indiana Railroad Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad Chicago Union Station Company Cincinnati Union Terminal Company Cleveland Union Terminals Company Delaware and Hudson Railway Company Detroit and Toledo Shore Line Railroad Company Detroit Terminal Railroad Company Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad Erie Lackawanna Railway Grand Trunk Western Railroad Indianapolis Union Railway Company Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company Lehigh and New England Railway Company Lehigh Valley Railroad Maine Central Railroad Company Portland Terminal Company Monongahela Railway Monon Railroad Montour Railroad Newburgh and South Shore Railway Company New York and Long Branch Railroad Company New York Dock Railway New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad Norfolk and Western Railway Penn Central Company Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, including Lake Erie and Eastern Railroad Reading Company Philadelphia, Reading and Pottsville Telegraph Company River Terminal Railway Toledo Terminal Railroad Company Washington Terminal Company Western Maryland Railway Company WESTERN RAILROADS Alton & Southern Railway Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company Belt Railway Company of Chicago Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway Camas Prairie Railroad Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Chicago & Illinois Midland Railway Company Chicago and North Western Railway Company Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad Company Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company Chicago, West Pullman & Southern Railroad Company Colorado and Southern Railway Colorado & Wyoming Railway Davenport, Rock Island and North Western Railway Company Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company Des Moines Union Railway Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway Duluth Union Depot & Transfer Company Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway Company Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Company Great Northern Railway Green Bay & Western Railroad Houston Belt & Terminal Railway Company Illinois Central Railroad (including the Chicago and Illinois Western and Paducah and Illinois Railroads) Illinois Northern Railway Illinois Terminal Railroad Joint Texas Division of CRI&P-FW&D Railway Kansas City Southern Railway Company Kansas City Terminal Railway Company Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer Railway Los Angeles Junction Railway Company Louisiana & Arkansas Railway Company Manufacturers Railway Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway Minnesota Transfer Railway Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company Missouri Pacific Railroad (Including Gulf District) Missouri-Illinois Railroad Norfolk and Western Railway Company Northern Pacific Railway Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company Peoria and Pekin Union Railway Company Portland Terminal Railroad Company Port Terminal Railroad Association St. Louis-San Francisco Railway St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company Saint Paul Union Depot Company San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company Sioux City Terminal Railway Company Soo Line Railroad Southern Pacific Company (Pacific Lines and Texas and Louisiana Lines) South Omaha Terminal Railway Company Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Company (System Lines) Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis Texas & Pacific Railway Fort Worth Belt Railway Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway Weatherford, Mineral Wells & Northwestern Railway Texas Mexican Railway Company Texas Pacific-Missouri Pacific Terminal Railroad of New Orleans Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad Union Pacific Railroad Company Union Terminal Company (Dallas) Western Pacific Railroad Company Yakima Valley Transportation Company SOUTHEASTERN RAILROADS Atlanta and West Point Rail Road Company,-- The Western Railway of Alabama Atlanta Joint Terminals Central of Georgia Railway Company Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company Clinchfield Railroad Company Georgia Railroad Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad Jacksonville Terminal Company Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad Norfolk and Western Railway Company Norfolk Southern Railway Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company (Including Potomac Yard) Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Southern Railway Company The Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway Company The Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad Company The New Orleans Terminal Company Georgia Southern and Florida Railway Company St. Johns River Terminal Company Harriman and Northeastern Railroad Company LIST B International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Sheet Metal Workers' International Association International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11,486 (Oct. 3, 1969), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11486-creating-emergency-board-investigate-disputes-between-the-carriers.