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Executive Order 11748 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.29) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 11748—Federal Energy Office

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Tuesday, December 4, 1973
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3 min read (610 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (610 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a Federal Energy Office.

⚖️ 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 Foreign Nations & International Entities 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 December 4, 1973, this order concerns Federal Energy Office. There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a Federal Energy Office. The Office shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of an Administrator and a Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy Office. The Administrator shall be the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. 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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There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a Federal Energy Office.

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The Office shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of an Administrator and a Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy Office.

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The Administrator shall be the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

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The Administrator of the Federal Energy Office shall advise the President with respect to the establishment and integration of domestic and foreign policies relating to the production, conservation, use, control, distribution, and allocation of energy and with respect to all other energy matters.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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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)
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"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
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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
40 / 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

Moderate Friction

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

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%).
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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
610
3,696 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.6
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.29
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America by the Constitution and statutes of the United Sates, including the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-379,84 Stat. 799), as amended, the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-159), the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. App. 2061, et seq.), as amended, and Section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1. There is hereby established in the Executive Office of the President a Federal Energy Office. The Office shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of an Administrator and a Deputy Administrator of the Federal Energy Office. The Administrator shall be the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. SEC. 2. The Administrator of the Federal Energy Office shall advise the President with respect to the establishment and integration of domestic and foreign policies relating to the production, conservation, use, control, distribution, and allocation of energy and with respect to all other energy matters. SEC. 3 (a) There is hereby delegated to the Administrator all the authority vested in the President by the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973. (b) The Administrator shall either submit to the Congress the reports required by Section 4 (c) (2) of the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act, or may require any other officer or any department or agency of the United States to submit the required reports to Congress. SEC. 4 (a) There is hereby delegated to the Administrator the authority vested in the President by Section 203 (a) (3) of the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, as amended. (b) The Chairman of the Cost of Living Council shall, from time to time, delegate to the Administrator such authority under the Economic Stabilization Act as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of that Act with respect to energy matters. SEC. 5. There is hereby delegated to the Administrator the authority vested in the President by the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended, as it relates to the production, conservation, use, control, distribution, and allocation of energy. Any provision of Executive Order No. 10480, as amended, which is inconsistent with the exercise of such authority is hereby suspended for so long as this Section remains in effect. SEC. 6. Executive Order No. 11726 of June 29, 1973, is hereby superseded to the extent that it is inconsistent with this Order. SEC. 7. All Orders, regulations, circulars, or other directives issued and all other actions taken pursuant to any authority delegated to the Administrator by this Order prior to and in effect on the date of this Order are hereby confirmed and ratified, and shall remain in full force and effect, as if issued under this Order, unless or until altered, amended, or revoked by the Administrator or by such competent authority as he may specify. SEC. 8. All authority delegated to and placed in the Administrator by this Order may be further delegated, in whole or in part, by the Administrator to any other officer or any department or agency of the United States. SEC. 9 (a) Necessary expenses of the Federal Energy Office may be paid from the Emergency Fund of the President or from such other funds as may be available. (b) The Administrator of the General Services Administration shall provide, on a reimbursable basis, such administrative support as may be needed by the Federal Energy Office. (c) All departments and agencies of the executive branch shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide assistance and information to the Administrator of the Federal Energy Office. RICHARD NIXON The White House, December 4, 1973.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (4)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 11,748 (Dec. 4, 1973), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-11748-federal-energy-office.