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Executive Order 11717 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 11717—Transferring Certain Functions from the Office of Management and Budget to the General Services Administration and the Department of Commerce

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Wednesday, May 9, 1973
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3 min read (502 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (502 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There are hereby transferred to the Administrator of General Services all functions that were being performed in the Office of Management and Budget on April 13, 1973 by: (1) the Financial Management Branch, the Procurement and Property Management Branch, and the Management Systems Branch of the Organization and Management Systems Division; and (2) the Management Information and Computer Systems Division with respect to policy control over automatic data processing (except those functions relating to the establishment of Government-wide automatic data-processing standards).

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

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 May 9, 1973, this order concerns Transferring Certain Functions from the Office of Management and Budget to the General Services Administration and the Department of Commerce. There are hereby transferred to the Administrator of General Services all functions that were being performed in the Office of Management and Budget on April 13, 1973 by: (1) the Financial Management Branch, the Procurement and Property Management Branch, and the Management Systems Branch of the Organization and Management Systems Division; and (2) the Management Information and Computer Systems Division with…

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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There are hereby transferred to the Administrator of General Services all functions that were being performed in the Office of Management and Budget on April 13, 1973 by: (1) the Financial Management Branch, the Procurement and Property Management Branch, and the Management Systems Branch of the Organization and Management Systems Division; and (2) the Management Information and Computer Systems Division with respect to policy control over automatic data processing (except those functions relating to the establishment of Government-wide automatic data-processing standards).

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There are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce all functions being performed on the date of this order in the Office of Management and Budget relating to the establishment of Government-wide automatic data processing standards, including the function of approving standards on behalf of the President pursuant to section 111(f) (2) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended.

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The functions transferred to the Administrator of the General Services Administration and to the Secretary of Commerce by this order do not include those performed in connection with the general oversight responsibilities of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, as the head of that agency and as Assistant to the President for executive management, and the functions transferred by this order shall be performed subject to such general oversight to the same extent that other functions of the General Services Administration and the Department of Commerce, respectively, are so performed.

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The functions vested in the President by the first sentence of section 111(g) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, with respect to fiscal control of automatic data processing activities shall continue to be performed by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

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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 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"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 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

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%).
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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
502
3,189 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and Statutes of the United States, particularly by section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, as amended, the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950, as amended, and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1970, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There are hereby transferred to the Administrator of General Services all functions that were being performed in the Office of Management and Budget on April 13, 1973 by: (1) the Financial Management Branch, the Procurement and Property Management Branch, and the Management Systems Branch of the Organization and Management Systems Division; and (2) the Management Information and Computer Systems Division with respect to policy control over automatic data processing (except those functions relating to the establishment of Government-wide automatic data-processing standards). SEC. 2. There are hereby transferred to the Secretary of Commerce all functions being performed on the date of this order in the Office of Management and Budget relating to the establishment of Government-wide automatic data processing standards, including the function of approving standards on behalf of the President pursuant to section 111(f) (2) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended. SEC. 3. (a) The functions transferred to the Administrator of the General Services Administration and to the Secretary of Commerce by this order do not include those performed in connection with the general oversight responsibilities of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, as the head of that agency and as Assistant to the President for executive management, and the functions transferred by this order shall be performed subject to such general oversight to the same extent that other functions of the General Services Administration and the Department of Commerce, respectively, are so performed. (b) The functions vested in the President by the first sentence of section 111(g) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, with respect to fiscal control of automatic data processing activities shall continue to be performed by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. No function vested by statute in the Director shall be deemed to be affected by the provisions of this order. SEC. 4. So much of the personnel, property, records and unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds employed, used, held, available, or to be made available, in connection with the functions transferred by this order as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall determine, shall be transferred to the Department of Commerce and the General Services Administration, respectively, at such times as the Director shall specify. SEC. 5. Executive Order No. 11541 of July 1, 1970, is hereby superseded to the extent that it is inconsistent with this order. SEC. 6. This order shall be effective as of April 15, 1973. RICHARD NIXON The White House, May 9, 1973.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,717 (May 9, 1973), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11717-transferring-certain-functions-from-the-office-management-and-budget.