By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is ordered as follows: Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Executive Order No. 11407, of April 23, 1968, entitled "Amending Executive Order No. 11174, Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge" are hereby amended to read as follows: "1. Certificate established. The White House Service Certificate is hereby reestablished as the Presidential Service Certificate, to be awarded in the name of the President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to the White House Office or to military units and support facilities under the administration of the Military Assistant to the President for a period of at least one year subsequent to January 20, 1969. "3. Badge established. The White House Service Badge is replaced by the Presidential Service Badge, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this Order. The Presidential Service Badge may be awarded to any member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty in the White House Office or to military units and support facilities under the administration of the Military Assistant to the President by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, or, when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, the Secretary of Transportation, upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the President, to military personnel of their respective services. The Badge may be worn as a part of the uniform of those individuals upon award of the Presidential Service Certificate under such regulations as the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force, with the approval of the Secretary of Defense, and, when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, with the approval of the Secretary of Transportation, may severally prescribe." RICHARD NIXON The White House March 25, 1970
Executive Order 11520 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 11520—Amending Executive Order No. 11407, Relating to the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (357 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Executive Order No. 11407, of April 23, 1968, entitled "Amending Executive Order No. 11174, Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge" are hereby amended to read as follows: "1.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments
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 25, 1970, this order concerns Amending Executive Order No. 11407, Relating to the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge. Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Executive Order No. 11407, of April 23, 1968, entitled "Amending Executive Order No. 11174, Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge" are hereby amended to read as follows: "1. Certificate established.
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
▪
Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Executive Order No. 11407, of April 23, 1968, entitled "Amending Executive Order No. 11174, Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge" are hereby amended to read as follows: "1.
▪
The White House Service Certificate is hereby reestablished as the Presidential Service Certificate, to be awarded in the name of the President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to the White House Office or to military units and support facilities under the administration of the Military Assistant to the President for a period of at least one year subsequent to January 20, 1969.
▪
The White House Service Badge is replaced by the Presidential Service Badge, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this Order.
▪
The Presidential Service Badge may be awarded to any member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty in the White House Office or to military units and support facilities under the administration of the Military Assistant to the President by the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, or, when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, the Secretary of Transportation, upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the President, to military personnel of their respective services.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
Policy Areas & Topics
🏛️
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating 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
📐
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
48 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Moderate Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments
Moderate Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
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%).
ℹ️
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
357
2,123 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
2 orders cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11407 Apr 23, 1968
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11407—Amending Executive Order No. 11174, Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of Executive Order No. 11174 of September 1, 1964, entitled "Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge", are hereby amended to read as follows: "1. Certificate established.
Lyndon B. Johnson Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 11174 Sep 1, 1964
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11174—Establishing the Presidential Service Certificate and the Presidential Service Badge
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Prior order. The numbered Sections of Executive Order 10879 of June 1, 1960, are hereby amended to read as follows: "1. Certificate established.
Lyndon B. Johnson Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 11521 Mar 26, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11521—Authorizing Veterans Readjustment Appointments for Veterans of the Vietnam Era
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Subject to paragraph (b) of this section, the head of an agency may make an excepted appointment, to be known as a "veterans readjustment appointment", to any position in the competitive service up to and including GS-5 or the equivalent thereof, of a veteran or disabled…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 4m
EO 11519 Mar 23, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11519—Calling Into Service Members and Units of the National Guard
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
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.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 11518 Mar 20, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11518—Providing for the Increased Representation of the Interests of Small Business Concerns Before Departments and Agencies of the United States Government
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
The Small Business Administration, as the spokesman for and advocate of the small business community, shall advise and counsel small business concerns in their dealings with the departments and agencies of the United States Government to the end that the views of small business…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 4m
EO 11517 Mar 19, 1970
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11517—Providing for the Issuance and Signature by the Secretary of State of Warrants Appointing Agents to Return Fugitives From Justice Extradited to the United States
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
The Secretary of State is hereby designated and empowered to issue and sign all warrants appointing agents to receive, in behalf of the United States, the delivery in extradition by a foreign government of any person accused of a crime committed within the United States, and to…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,520 (Mar. 25, 1970), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11520-amending-executive-order-no-11407-relating-the-presidential-service.
