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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 11519 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11519—Calling Into Service Members and Units of the National Guard

Richard Nixon Richard Nixon
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Monday, March 23, 1970
•
2 min read (456 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (456 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to take all appropriate steps to respond to requests of the Postmaster General for assistance in restoring and maintaining Postal service and to execute the Postal laws of the United States.

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 Richard Nixon on March 23, 1970, this order concerns Calling Into Service Members and Units of the National Guard. The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to take all appropriate steps to respond to requests of the Postmaster General for assistance in restoring and maintaining Postal service and to execute the Postal laws of the United States. SEC. 2.

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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The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to take all appropriate steps to respond to requests of the Postmaster General for assistance in restoring and maintaining Postal service and to execute the Postal laws of the United States.

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In furtherance of the authorization and direction contained in section 1 hereof, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to use such of the Armed Forces of the United States as he may deem necessary.

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I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of Defense to call into the active military service of the United States, as he may deem appropriate to carry out the purposes of this order, any or all of the units of the Army National Guard and of the Air National Guard that he deems appropriate to serve in the active military service of the United States for an indefinite period and until relieved by appropriate orders.

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In carrying out the provisions of this order, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to use the units, and members thereof, of the Army National Guard and of the Air National Guard called into the active military service of the United States pursuant to this section.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

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

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense
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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)
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"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
34 / 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

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

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
456
2,661 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
29.3
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

WHEREAS certain employees of the Postal Service are engaged in an unlawful work stoppage which has prevented the delivery of the mails and the discharge of other postal functions in various parts of the United States; and WHEREAS the laws of the United States, including Sections 707, 5102, 6001, and 6101 of Title 39, United States Code require that the business of the Post Office Department, including the expeditious processing and delivery of the mail, be regularly carried on; and WHEREAS the aforesaid unlawful work stoppage has prevented and is preventing the execution of the aforesaid laws relating to the Post Office Department; and WHEREAS the breakdown of the postal service in the numerous areas affected by the said unlawful work stoppage is a matter of grave national concern; and WHEREAS I am charged by the Constitution of the United States to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and I have determined that I am unable solely with the regular forces to cause the aforesaid laws to be executed: Now, THEREFORE, I, RICHARD NIXON, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including Sections 3500 and 8500 of Title 10 of the United States Code and Section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, do hereby order as follows: SECTION 1. The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to take all appropriate steps to respond to requests of the Postmaster General for assistance in restoring and maintaining Postal service and to execute the Postal laws of the United States. SEC. 2. In furtherance of the authorization and direction contained in section 1 hereof, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to use such of the Armed Forces of the United States as he may deem necessary. SEC. 3. I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of Defense to call into the active military service of the United States, as he may deem appropriate to carry out the purposes of this order, any or all of the units of the Army National Guard and of the Air National Guard that he deems appropriate to serve in the active military service of the United States for an indefinite period and until relieved by appropriate orders. In carrying out the provisions of this order, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to use the units, and members thereof, of the Army National Guard and of the Air National Guard called into the active military service of the United States pursuant to this section. SEC. 4. The Secretary of Defense is authorized to delegate within the Department of Defense any of the authority conferred upon him by this Executive order. RICHARD NIXON The White House March 23, 1970

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 11,519 (Mar. 23, 1970), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11519-calling-into-service-members-and-units-the-national-guard.