By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 5317 of title 5 of the United States Code, as amended, it is ordered as follows: SECTION 1. The following offices and positions are placed in level IV of the Executive Schedule: (1) Administrator, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (2) Administrator, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (3) Administrator, Health Services and Mental Health Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (4) Special Assistant to the Secretary (Congressional Relations), Treasury Department. (5) Director, United States Secret Service, Treasury Department. (6) Director, Office for Drug Abuse Law Enforcement, Department of Justice. (7) Director, Office of National Narcotics Intelligence, Department of Justice. (8) Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President. (9) Assistant Director, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President. (10) Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, Legislative Affairs, Department of Defense. (11) Principal Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Department of Defense. (12) Deputy Under Secretary for International Labor Affairs, Department of Labor. (13) Counselor to the Secretary of Labor, Department of Labor. (14) Assistant to the Secretary for Policy Development, Department of Commerce. SEC. 2. The following offices and positions are continued in level V of the Executive Schedule: (1) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Department of Defense. (2) Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Department of Defense. (3) Assistant Secretary, Comptroller, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (4) Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (5) Commissioner on Aging, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (6) Deputy Director, United States Secret Service, Treasury Department. (7) Commissioner, Property Management and Disposal Service, General Services Administration. (8) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Model Cities, Department of Housing and Urban Development. SEC. 3. Except with respect to the positions enumerated in section 2 of this order, Executive Order No. 11248 of October 10, 1965, as amended, is hereby revoked. RICHARD NIXON The White House, March 23, 1973.
Executive Order 11708 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 11708—Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (340 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Except with respect to the positions enumerated in section 2 of this order, Executive Order No. 11248 of October 10, 1965, as amended, is hereby revoked.
⚖️ 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 Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Public Health & Medical Institutions Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 March 23, 1973, this order concerns Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Executive Schedule. The following offices and positions are placed in level IV of the Executive Schedule: (1) Administrator, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (2) Administrator, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. (3) Administrator, Health Services and Mental Health Administration, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
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
▪
Except with respect to the positions enumerated in section 2 of this order, Executive Order No. 11248 of October 10, 1965, as amended, is hereby revoked.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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
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
340
2,422 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
13.8
College Level
Text size:
🔗
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (4)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Richard Nixon • 1974-02-20
Richard Nixon • 1973-08-06
Richard Nixon • 1973-07-06
Richard Nixon • 1973-04-24
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 11248 Oct 10, 1965
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11248—Placing Certain Positions in Levels IV and V of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The following offices and positions are placed in Level IV of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule: (1) Special Assistant to the Secretary (for Enforcement), Treasury Department. (2) Principal Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Department of Defense. SEC. 2.
Lyndon B. Johnson High School • 1m
EO 11709 Mar 27, 1973
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11709—Inspection by Department of Agriculture of Income Tax Returns Made Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 of Persons Having Farm Operations
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Income tax returns made for taxable years beginning on or after January 1,1967, of persons having farm operations shall be open to inspection to the extent readily available in the Internal Revenue Service by the Department of Agriculture as may be needed for statistical…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 11707 Mar 12, 1973
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11707—Change in Boundaries of New England River Basins Commission
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
The Governors of the member States of the New England River Basins Commission and the Water Resources Council have requested that the jurisdiction of the Commission be extended to include those portions of the States of Vermont and Massachusetts which are not presently included…
Richard Nixon High School • 1m
EO 11710 Apr 4, 1973
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Fidelity (+0.29)
Executive Order 11710—National Commission for Industrial Peace
📜 Art. II §3: Faithful Execution of Statutory Law
There is hereby established a National Commission for Industrial Peace (hereinafter referred to as the Commission). SEC. 2. The Commission shall consist of a Chairman to be appointed by the President, and such members representing labor, management, and the public at large as…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 11706 Mar 8, 1973
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11706—Inspection of Returns by U.S. Attorneys and Attorneys of Department of Justice and Use of Returns in Grand Jury Proceedings and in Litigation
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Returns made in respect of the taxes imposed by chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 12, and 32, subchapters B and C of chapter 33, and chapter 41 of such Code shall be open to inspection by U.S. attorneys and attorneys of the Department of Justice and for use in grand jury proceedings…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
EO 11705 Mar 6, 1973
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 11705—The Honorable Cleo A. Noel, Junior, George Curtis Moore
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 of Proclamation 3044 of March 1, 1954, as amended, that on the day of interment, March 7, 1973, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels of the Federal Government in the…
Richard Nixon Post-Graduate Legal • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 11,708 (Mar. 23, 1973), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11708-placing-certain-positions-levels-iv-and-v-the-executive-schedule.
