★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
Cite
Executive Order 11563 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11563—Amending the Selective Service Regulations

•
Saturday, September 26, 1970
•
8 min read (1,551 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 8 min read (1,551 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby prescribe the following amendment of the Selective Service Regulations prescribed by Executive Orders No. 10001 of September 17, 1948, No. 10202 of January 12, 1951, No. 10292 of September 25, 1951, No. 10659 of February 15, 1956, No. 10735 of October 17, 1957, No. 10984 of January 5, 1962, No. 11098 of March 14, 1963, No. 11119 of September 10, 1963, No. 11241 of August 26, 1965, No. 11360 of June 30, 1967, No. 11497 of November 26, 1969, No. 11537 of June 16, 1970, and constituting portions of Chapter XVI of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations: Section 1631.7 Action by Local Board Upon Receipt of Notice of Call is amended to read as follows: 1631.7 Action by Local Board Upon Receipt of Notice of Call.—(a) When a call is…

⚖️ 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 Sovereign State Governments & Localities Public Health & Medical Institutions

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 September 26, 1970, this order concerns Amending the Selective Service Regulations. I hereby prescribe the following amendment of the Selective Service Regulations prescribed by Executive Orders No. 10001 of September 17, 1948, No. 10202 of January 12, 1951, No. 10292 of September 25, 1951, No. 10659 of February 15, 1956, No. 10735 of October 17, 1957, No. 10984 of January 5, 1962, No. 11098 of March 14, 1963, No. 11119 of September 10, 1963, No. 11241 of August 26, 1965, No. 11360 of June 30…

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

▪

I hereby prescribe the following amendment of the Selective Service Regulations prescribed by Executive Orders No. 10001 of September 17, 1948, No. 10202 of January 12, 1951, No. 10292 of September 25, 1951, No. 10659 of February 15, 1956, No. 10735 of October 17, 1957, No. 10984 of January 5, 1962, No. 11098 of March 14, 1963, No. 11119 of September 10, 1963, No. 11241 of August 26, 1965, No. 11360 of June 30, 1967, No. 11497 of November 26, 1969, No. 11537 of June 16, 1970, and constituting portions of Chapter XVI of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations: Section 1631.7 Action by Local Board Upon Receipt of Notice of Call is amended to read as follows: 1631.7 Action by Local Board Upon Receipt of Notice of Call.—(a) When a call is…

▪

Whenever the number of postponements of induction materially reduces the number of men the local board actually can deliver in response to a call, the local board shall issue orders to report for induction to such numbers of additional men as may be necessary to meet the call, taking into account the number of men to be delivered following the expiration of postponements previously granted.

▪

Registrants shall be selected and ordered to report for induction in the following categories and in the order indicated: (1) Volunteers who have not attained the age of 26 years in the sequence in which they have volunteered for induction.

▪

Nonvolunteers in the Extended Priority Selection Group in the order of their random sequence number established by random selection procedures prescribed in accordance with paragraph (d) of Section 1631.5.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
🏛️

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
📐

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
38 / 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

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%).
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
1,551
9,147 characters
Estimated Read Time
8 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
16.5
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (4 sections)

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Military Selective Service Act of 1967 (62 Stat. 604, as amended), I hereby prescribe the following amendment of the Selective Service Regulations prescribed by Executive Orders No. 10001 of September 17, 1948, No. 10202 of January 12, 1951, No. 10292 of September 25, 1951, No. 10659 of February 15, 1956, No. 10735 of October 17, 1957, No. 10984 of January 5, 1962, No. 11098 of March 14, 1963, No. 11119 of September 10, 1963, No. 11241 of August 26, 1965, No. 11360 of June 30, 1967, No. 11497 of November 26, 1969, No. 11537 of June 16, 1970, and constituting portions of Chapter XVI of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

Section 1631. #sec-1631

7 Action by Local Board Upon Receipt of Notice of Call is amended to read as follows: 1631.7 Action by Local Board Upon Receipt of Notice of Call.—(a) When a call is received by a Notice of Call on Local Board (SSS Form 201) from the State Director of Selective Service for a specified number of men to be delivered for induction, or for a specified number of men in a medical, dental, or allied specialist category to be delivered for induction, the Executive Secretary or clerk, if so authorized, or a local board member shall select, as provided herein, and issue orders to report for induction to the number of men required to fill the call from among its registrants who have been classified in Class I-A or Class I-A-O and have been found acceptable for service in the Armed Forces and to whom a Statement of Acceptability (DD Form 62) has been mailed at least 21 days before the date fixed for induction: Provided, That notwithstanding Part 1628 or any other provision of these regulations, when a registrant classified in Class I-A or Class I-A-O has refused or otherwise failed to comply with an order of his local board to report for and submit to an armed forces physical examination, he may be selected and ordered to report for induction even though he has not been found acceptable for service in the Armed Forces and a Statement of Acceptability (DD Form 62) has not been mailed to him, and in such case the armed forces physical examination shall be performed after he has reported for induction as ordered and he shall not be inducted until his acceptability has been satisfactorily determined: Provided further, That a registrant classified in Class I-A or Class I-A-O who has volunteered for induction may be selected and ordered to report for induction to fill an induction call notwithstanding the fact that he has not been found acceptable for service in the Armed Forces and regardless of whether or not a Statement of Acceptability (DD Form 62) has been mailed to him. Whenever the number of postponements of induction materially reduces the number of men the local board actually can deliver in response to a call, the local board shall issue orders to report for induction to such numbers of additional men as may be necessary to meet the call, taking into account the number of men to be delivered following the expiration of postponements previously granted. (b) Registrants shall be selected and ordered to report for induction in the following categories and in the order indicated: (1) Volunteers who have not attained the age of 26 years in the sequence in which they have volunteered for induction. (2) Nonvolunteers in the Extended Priority Selection Group in the order of their random sequence number established by random selection procedures prescribed in accordance with paragraph (d) of

Section 1631. #sec-1631-2

5. (3) Nonvolunteers in the First Priority Selection Group in the order of their random sequence number established by random selection procedures prescribed in accordance with paragraph (d) of

Section 1631. #sec-1631-3

5. (4) Nonvolunteers in each of the lower priority selection groups, in turn, within the group in the order of their random sequence number established by random selection procedures prescribed in accordance with paragraph (d) of

Section 1631. #sec-1631-4

5. (5) Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of 19 years during the calendar year but who have not attained the age of 20 years, in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first. (6) Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of 26 years in the order of their dates of birth with the youngest being selected first. (7) Nonvolunteers who have attained the age of 18 years and 6 months and who have not attained the age of 19 years in the order of their dates of birth with the oldest being selected first. (c) Definitions. (1) Extended Priority Selection Group consists of registrants who on December 31 were members of the First Priority Selection Group whose random sequence number had been reached but who had not been issued Orders to Report for Induction. (2) First Priority Selection Group: (i) 1970. In the calendar year 1970, non-volunteers in Class I—A or Class I—A-0 born on or after January 1, 1944, and on or before December 31, 1950, who have not attained the 26th anniversary of the dates of their birth. (ii) 1971 and later years. In the calendar year 1971 and each calendar year thereafter, nonvolunteers in Class I—A or Class I—A—O who prior to January of each such calendar year have attained the age of 19 years but not of 20 years and nonvolunteers who prior to January 1 of each such calendar year have attained the age of 19 but not of 26 years and who during that year are classified into Class I—A or Class I—A—O. (3) Lower priority selection groups. One or more priority selection groups lower than the First Priority Selection Group in a given year. (4) "Reached" random sequence number. A registrant's random sequence number will be deemed to have been "reached" whenever his local board has issued at any time during the calendar year an order to report for induction to another registrant in the same priority selection group and subgroup who had been assigned that or a higher random sequence number. (d) Procedures. (1) Local boards shall identify registrants in the appropriate groups as provided in this section. (2) Members of the First Priority Selection Group on December 31 in any calendar year whose random sequence numbers have not been reached by that date, or members of any subgroup which was not reached during such calendar year, shall be assigned to the priority selection group which is next below the First Priority Selection Group for the immediately succeeding calendar year. (3) On December 31 of each year, each priority selection group below the first priority selection group shall be reduced one step further in priority. In this manner the second priority selection group would become the third, the third would become the fourth, and soon. (4) Members of the First Priority Selection Group on December 31 in any calendar year whose random sequence number had been reached but who had not been issued Orders to Report for Induction during the calendar year shall be assigned to the Extended Priority Selection Group for the immediately succeeding calendar year. (5) Members of the Extended Priority Selection Group who have not been issued orders to report for induction and originally scheduled for a date prior to April 1 shall forthwith be assigned to the lower priority selection group to which they would have been assigned had they never been assigned to the Extended Priority Selection Group; except that members of the Extended Priority Selection Group who would have been ordered to report for induction to fill the last call in the first quarter of the calendar year but who could not be issued orders shall remain in the Extended Priority Selection Group and shall be ordered to report for induction as soon as practicable. Circumstances which would prevent such an order shall include but not be limited to those arising from a personal appearance, appeal, preinduction physical examination, reconsideration, judicial proceeding, or inability of the local board to act. (6) Any registrant assigned to a lower priority selection group or the Extended Priority Selection Group, who while in such priority selection group receives a deferment or exemption, and who subsequently is reclassified into Class I—A or Class I—A—O, shall be assigned to the priority selection group which, at the time of such reclassification, is in the same corresponding position as was the priority selection group of which he was a member when he received such deferment or exemption. (7) A registrant in category (b) (2), (3) or (4) can be inducted under those provisions after he has attained the age of 26 only if he has extended liability and has been issued an order to report for induction prior to such birthday. (8) Within category (3) and (4) listed in (b) there shall be a subgroup consisting of registrants who have a wife whom they married on or before August 26, 1965, and with whom they maintain a bona fide family relationship in their homes. Registrants in any such subgroup shall be subject in all respects to this section except that they shall be selected after other registrants in the group of which that subgroup is a part. RICHARD NIXON The White House September 26, 1970

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,563 (Sept. 26, 1970), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11563-amending-the-selective-service-regulations.