By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, including the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-379, 84 Stat. 799), as amended by the Economic Stabilization Act Amendments of 1971 (Public Law 92-210, 85 Stat. 743), it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. The head of each executive agency or military department authorized to fix by administrative action the rate of basic pay for a position or employee under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 5 of the United States Code, shall fix any such rate in accordance with instructions issued by the United States Civil Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) under the authority of this order. SEC. 2. (a) The Commission is hereby authorized and directed to issue to the heads of executive agencies and military departments instructions on the fixing of rates of basic pay for positions and employees covered by section 1 of this order. (b) In issuing instructions under this order, the Commission shall maintain consistency in each pay schedule adjustment with the fiscal and economic policies of the United States, including the policies and pay increase guidelines issued by the Pay Board established under Executive Order No. 11627 of October 15, 1971. No pay schedule adjustment shall exceed such guidelines, except where (i) a tandem relationship exists between a Federal pay schedule for a specialized employee unit and pay increases granted in a specialized activity in the private sector, (ii) the Pay Board has permitted a pay increase for the specialized activity in the private sector which is in excess of the guidelines, and (iii) it is determined that a comparable increase is essential to the continued operation of the Government service concerned. SEC. 3. The instructions issued by the Commission under this order may (i) prescribe definitions of the terms used herein, (ii) redelegate to the head of an executive agency or military department any of the Commission's authority under this order, and (iii) contain such other provisions as the Commission determines to be necessary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this order. SEC. 4. (a) The Commission may, in administering this order, utilize such services of other executive agencies and military departments as may be available and appropriate. (b) On request of the Commission, an executive agency or military department is authorized and directed, consistent with law, to furnish the Commission with information which the Commission may require in carrying out its responsibilities under this order. RICHARD NIXON The White House, January 11, 1972
Executive Order 11639 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 11639—Providing for Pay Adjustments for Federal Prevailing Rate Systems
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (428 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
The head of each executive agency or military department authorized to fix by administrative action the rate of basic pay for a position or employee under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 5 of the United States Code, shall fix any such rate in accordance with instructions issued by the United States Civil Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) under the authority of this order.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 January 11, 1972, this order concerns Providing for Pay Adjustments for Federal Prevailing Rate Systems. The head of each executive agency or military department authorized to fix by administrative action the rate of basic pay for a position or employee under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 5 of the United States Code, shall fix any such rate in accordance with instructions issued by the United States Civil Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) under the authority of this order. 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 head of each executive agency or military department authorized to fix by administrative action the rate of basic pay for a position or employee under subchapter IV of chapter 53 of title 5 of the United States Code, shall fix any such rate in accordance with instructions issued by the United States Civil Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) under the authority of this order.
▪
The Commission is hereby authorized and directed to issue to the heads of executive agencies and military departments instructions on the fixing of rates of basic pay for positions and employees covered by section 1 of this order.
▪
In issuing instructions under this order, the Commission shall maintain consistency in each pay schedule adjustment with the fiscal and economic policies of the United States, including the policies and pay increase guidelines issued by the Pay Board established under Executive Order No. 11627 of October 15, 1971.
▪
No pay schedule adjustment shall exceed such guidelines, except where (i) a tandem relationship exists between a Federal pay schedule for a specialized employee unit and pay increases granted in a specialized activity in the private sector, (ii) the Pay Board has permitted a pay increase for the specialized activity in the private sector which is in excess of the guidelines, and (iii) it is determined that a comparable increase is essential to the continued operation of the Government service concerned.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 1 (Maximum Authority)
§
"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."
— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM
James Madison
Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy
"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)
Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.
Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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
40 / 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
Moderate Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
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
Low Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.
Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️
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
428
2,671 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.4
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
🔗
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Richard Nixon • 1972-01-26
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11627 Oct 15, 1971
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 11627—Further Providing for the Stabilization of the Economy
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
On August 15, 1971, I issued Executive Order No. 11615 providing for the stabilization of prices, rents, wages, and salaries, for a period of 90 days from the date of that Order.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 14m
EO 11640 Jan 26, 1972
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 11640—Further Providing for the Stabilization of the Economy
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
On August 15, 1971, I issued Executive Order No. 11615 providing for the stabilization of prices, rents, wages, and salaries, for a period of 90 days from the date of that Order.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 18m
EO 11641 Jan 28, 1972
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 11641—Concentration of Law Enforcement Activities Relating to Drug Abuse
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
The Attorney General of the United States shall provide for the establishment within the Department of Justice of an "Office for Drug Abuse Law Enforcement." (b) This Office shall be headed by a Director who shall have the title of Special Assistant Attorney General.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 3m
EO 11638 Dec 22, 1971
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11638—Adjusting the Rates of Monthly Basic Pay for Members of the Uniformed Services
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The rates of monthly basic pay for members of the uniformed services within each pay grade are adjusted upwards as set forth in the following tables: SEC. 2.
Richard Nixon High School • 1m
EO 11637 Dec 22, 1971
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11637—Adjusting Rates of Pay for Certain Statutory Pay Systems
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
General Schedule SECTION 1. The rates of basic pay in the General Schedule contained in section 5332(a) of title 5 of the United States Code are adjusted as follows: Schedules for the Department of Medicine and Surgery of the Veterans' Administration SEC. 2.
Richard Nixon High School • 2m
EO 11642 Feb 1, 1972
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11642—Further Exempting A. Everette MacIntyre from Compulsory Retirement for Age
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
On November 16, 1970, I issued Executive Order No. 11568, exempting A. Everette Maclntyre, a member of the Federal Trade Commission, from compulsory retirement for age, under the provisions of section 8335 of title 5, United States Code, until February 29, 1972.
Richard Nixon High School • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,639 (Jan. 11, 1972), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11639-providing-for-pay-adjustments-for-federal-prevailing-rate-systems.
