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Executive Order 11690 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 11690—Delegation of Certain Functions to the Executive Director of the Domestic Council

Richard Nixon

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Thursday, December 14, 1972

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2 min read (473 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (473 words) • ● In Effect

🎯 Primary Mandate

All Federal departments, agencies, and interagency councils and committees having an impact on intergovernmental relations, and all Federal Executive Boards, shall extend full cooperation and assistance to the Director in carrying out his responsibilities under this order.

View all 3 directives ↓

⚖️ Constitutional Footing

🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority

Express or Implied Congressional Authorization

📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Framers' constitutional debate ↓

🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors

Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Inspect unabridged text ↓

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 14, 1972, this order concerns Delegation of Certain Functions to the Executive Director of the Domestic Council. 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. In addition, he shall: (1) serve as the coordinator for the prompt handling and solution of Federal-State-local problems brought to the attention of the President or Vice President by executive and legislative officers of State and local…

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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Administrative Arrangements

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Revocation

Executive Order No. 11455 of February 14, 1969, entitled "Establishing an Office of Intergovernmental Relations", is hereby revoked.

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Records, Property, Personnel, and Funds

The records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances, available or to be made available, of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations are hereby transferred to the Domestic Council.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service

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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating 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

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)

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: Supportive of Execution

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.

Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny

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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

43 / 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

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.

Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

High Friction

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

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

Low Friction

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

473

3,190 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

19.9

Post-Graduate Legal

Language Tone Score

+0.33

Constitutional Fidelity

How is this scored?

Text size:

Official Archival Text

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📑Sections Outline (6 sections)

Sec. 1 Sec. 2: Administrative Arrangements Sec. 3: Construction Sec. 4: Revocation Sec. 5: Records, Property, Personnel, and Funds Sec. 6: Effective Date

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, Part II of Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1970, and as President of the United States, it is ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Functions of the Executive Director of the Domestic Council. 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. In addition, he shall: (1) serve as the coordinator for the prompt handling and solution of Federal-State-local problems brought to the attention of the President or Vice President by executive and legislative officers of State and local governments; (2) identify and report to the President on recurring intergovernmental problems of a Federal interdepartmental and interprogram nature; (3) explore and report to the President on ways and means of strengthening the headquarters and interagency relationships of Federal field offices as they relate to intergovernmental activities; (4) maintain continuing liaison with intergovernmental units in Federal departments and agencies; and (5) review procedures utilized by Federal executive agencies for affording State and local officials an Opportunity to confer and comment on Federal assistance programs and other intergovernmental issues, and propose methods of strengthening such procedures.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Administrative Arrangements. (a) All Federal departments, agencies, and interagency councils and committees having an impact on intergovernmental relations, and all Federal Executive Boards, shall extend full cooperation and assistance to the Director in carrying out his responsibilities under this order. The Director shall, upon request, assist all Federal departments and agencies with problems that may arise between them and the executive agencies or elected officials of State and local governments. (b) The head of each Federal department and agency shall designate an appropriate official with broad general experience in his department or agency to serve, upon request of the Director, as a point of contact in carrying out Federal-State-local liaison activities under this order.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Construction. Nothing in this order shall be construed as subjecting any department, establishment, or other instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government or the head thereof, or any function vested by law in or assigned pursuant to law, to any such agency or head, to the authority of any other such agency or head or as abrogating, modifying, or restricting any such function in any manner.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Revocation. Executive Order No. 11455 of February 14, 1969, entitled "Establishing an Office of Intergovernmental Relations", is hereby revoked.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

Records, Property, Personnel, and Funds. The records, property, personnel, and unexpended balances, available or to be made available, of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations are hereby transferred to the Domestic Council.

Sec. 6. #sec-6

Effective Date. This Order shall be effective thirty days after this date. RICHARD NIXON The White House, December 14, 1972

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,690 (Dec. 14, 1972), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11690-delegation-certain-functions-the-executive-director-the-domestic.