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: 1. There is hereby established a Vice Presidential Service Certificate to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to January 20, 1969. 2. The Vice Presidential Service Certificate, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this Order, may be awarded upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the Vice 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, to military personnel of their respective services. 3. There is hereby established a Vice Presidential Service Badge, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this Order. The Vice Presidential Service Badge may be awarded, upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the Vice 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, have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President. 4. Upon award of the Vice Presidential Service Certificate, the Vice Presidential Service Badge may be worn as a part of the uniform of an individual both during and after his assignment to duty in the Office of the Vice President. 5. Only one Vice Presidential Service Certificate will be awarded to an individual during an administration. Only one Vice Presidential Service Badge will be awarded to an individual. 6. The Vice Presidential Service Certificate and the Vice Presidential Service Badge established by this Order may be granted posthumously. RICHARD NIXON The White House July 8, 1970
Executive Order 11544 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 11544—Establishing the Vice Presidential Service Certificate and the Vice Presidential Service Badge
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (356 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
There is hereby established a Vice Presidential Service Certificate to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to January 20, 1969. 2.
⚖️ 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 July 8, 1970, this order concerns Establishing the Vice Presidential Service Certificate and the Vice Presidential Service Badge. There is hereby established a Vice Presidential Service Certificate to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to January 20, 1969. 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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There is hereby established a Vice Presidential Service Certificate to be awarded in the name of the Vice President of the United States to members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard who have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President for a period of at least one year subsequent to January 20, 1969. 2.
▪
The Vice Presidential Service Certificate, the design of which accompanies and is hereby made a part of this Order, may be awarded upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the Vice 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, to military personnel of their respective services. 3.
▪
The Vice Presidential Service Badge may be awarded, upon recommendation of the Military Assistant to the Vice 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, have been assigned to duty in the Office of the Vice President. 4.
▪
The Vice Presidential Service Certificate and the Vice Presidential Service Badge established by this Order may be granted posthumously.
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
53 / 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
Moderate Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.
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
356
2,069 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
18.1
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Gerald R. Ford • 1976-07-19
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Richard Nixon around this period.
EO 11546 Jul 9, 1970
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 11546—Establishing the President's Commission for the Observance of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the United Nations
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Establishment of Commission. (a) There is hereby established the President's Commission for the Observance of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the United Nations (hereinafter referred to as the "Commission").
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 3m
EO 11545 Amended Jul 9, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11545—Establishing the Defense Distinguished Service Medal
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
There is hereby established a Defense Distinguished Service Medal, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances, for award by the Secretary of Defense to a military officer who performed exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility with the Office of the…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 11543 Jul 7, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11543—Creating an Emergency Board to Investigate Disputes Between the Carriers Represented by the National Railway Labor Conferences and Certain of Their Employees
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
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.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 5m
EO 11547 Jul 10, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11547—Amending Executive Order No. 11330 With Respect to Membership and Chairmanship
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order No. 11330 of March 5, 1967, "Providing for the Coordination of Youth Opportunity Programs," is hereby amended by substituting the following for Section 101 (a): "SECTION 101. Membership and chairmanship.
Richard Nixon College Level • 1m
EO 11542 Jul 2, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11542—Amending Executive Order No. 11248, Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Section 2 of Executive Order No. 11248 of October 10, 1965, as amended, placing certain positions in level V of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule, is further amended by deleting "(10) Director, Demonstration Cities Administration, Department of Housing and Urban…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 11541 Jul 1, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11541—Prescribing the Duties of the Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Council in the Executive Office of the President
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
All functions transferred to the President of the United States by Part I of the Plan (including the function vested by section 102(f) of designating the officials of the Office of Management and Budget who shall act as Director during the absence or disability of the Deputy…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,544 (July 8, 1970), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11544-establishing-the-vice-presidential-service-certificate-and-the-vice.
