Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, as amended by Executive Order No. 11551 of August 11, 1970, provides that the National Council on Indian Opportunity shall consist of the Vice President of the United States, who serves as the Chairman of the Council, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and eight Indian leaders appointed by the President of the United States for terms of two years. Experience has demonstrated that it would be advisable to stagger the terms of the Indian-leader members of the Council so that the terms of only four of those members will expire in any year. That change would provide continuity in the Indian-leader membership of the Council. Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, section 1 of Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, as amended, is hereby further amended by adding, at its end, the following: "In order to provide staggered terms for Indian-leader members of the Council appointed after August 31, 1972, the President shall, notwithstanding the terms prescribed by the last phrase of the preceding sentence, appoint four Indian-leaders to serve as members of the Council for terms ending August 31, 1973, and four for terms ending August 31, 1974. Each of their successors shall be appointed for a term of two years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed. Any Indian-leader member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term." RICHARD NIXON The White House, December 1, 1972.
Executive Order 11688 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Executive Order 11688—Amending Executive Order No. 11399 with Respect to the Membership of the National Council on Indian Opportunity
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (314 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, as amended by Executive Order No. 11551 of August 11, 1970, provides that the National Council on Indian Opportunity shall consist of the Vice President of the United States, who serves as the Chairman of the Council, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and eight Indian leaders appointed by the President of the United States for terms of two years.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
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 December 1, 1972, this order concerns Amending Executive Order No. 11399 with Respect to the Membership of the National Council on Indian Opportunity. Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, as amended by Executive Order No. 11551 of August 11, 1970, provides that the National Council on Indian Opportunity shall consist of the Vice President of the United States, who serves as the Chairman of the Council, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of…
Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.
Key Directives & Operative Actions
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Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, as amended by Executive Order No. 11551 of August 11, 1970, provides that the National Council on Indian Opportunity shall consist of the Vice President of the United States, who serves as the Chairman of the Council, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and eight Indian leaders appointed by the President of the United States for terms of two years.
▪
Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, section 1 of Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, as amended, is hereby further amended by adding, at its end, the following: "In order to provide staggered terms for Indian-leader members of the Council appointed after August 31, 1972, the President shall, notwithstanding the terms prescribed by the last phrase of the preceding sentence, appoint four Indian-leaders to serve as members of the Council for terms ending August 31, 1973, and four for terms ending August 31, 1974.
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Each of their successors shall be appointed for a term of two years from the date of the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed.
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Any Indian-leader member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term."
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
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
"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)
Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.
Hamiltonian Stance: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
35 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
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
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
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
314
1,896 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
16.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
2 orders cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11399 Mar 6, 1968
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11399—Establishing the National Council on Indian Opportunity
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Establishment of Council. There is hereby established The National Council on Indian Opportunity (hereinafter referred to as the "Council").
Lyndon B. Johnson College Level • 2m
EO 11551 Aug 11, 1970
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11551—Amending Executive Order No. 11399 With Respect to the Membership of the National Council on Indian Opportunity
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
Executive Order No. 11399 of March 6, 1968, "Establishing the National Council on Indian Opportunity," is hereby amended by substituting the following for section 1: "Section 1. Establishment of Council.
Richard Nixon College Level • 1m
EO 11689 Dec 5, 1972
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.47)
Executive Order 11689—Extending Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities to the Mission to the United States of America of the Commission of the European Communities and to Certain Members Thereof
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
I hereby extend to the Mission to the United States of America of the Commission of the European Communities, and to the officers of that Mission assigned to Washington to represent the Commission to the Government of the United States and duly notified to and accepted by the…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 11690 Dec 14, 1972
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.33)
Executive Order 11690—Delegation of Certain Functions to the Executive Director of the Domestic Council
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
In addition to the functions heretofore assigned, the Executive Director of the Domestic Council shall assist the President with respect to inter-governmental relations generally.
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 11692 Dec 15, 1972
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11692—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 11691 Dec 15, 1972
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11691—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 • 3m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,688 (Dec. 1, 1972), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11688-amending-executive-order-no-11399-with-respect-the-membership-the.
