★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
Cite
Executive Order 12061 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.44) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 12061—Small Business Conference Commission

•
Thursday, May 18, 1978
•
3 min read (517 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (517 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is established a Small Business Conference Commission.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Jimmy Carter on May 18, 1978, this order concerns Small Business Conference Commission. 1-1. Establishment of Commission. 1-101. There is established a Small Business Conference Commission. The Commission shall be composed of five members. 1-102. The members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President. The President shall designate a Chairman from among the members. 1-2. Functions of the Commission. 1-201.

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

▪

There is established a Small Business Conference Commission.

▪

The Commission shall be composed of five members. 1-102.

▪

The members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President.

▪

The President shall designate a Chairman from among the members. 1-2.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
🏛️

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
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

"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
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
📐

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%).
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
517
3,416 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
13.2
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.44
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution of the United States of America, and in order to create in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. I) an advisory committee on a White House Small Business Conference, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1-1. Establishment of Commission. 1-101. There is established a Small Business Conference Commission. The Commission shall be composed of five members. 1-102. The members of the Commission shall be appointed by the President. The President shall designate a Chairman from among the members. 1-2. Functions of the Commission. 1-201. The Commission shall recommend appropriate alternate dates for holding a White House Conference on Small Business in the Fall of 1979. 1-202. The Commission shall recommend issues to be considered by the Conference, including those relating to fostering of small business and the expansion of opportunities for entry into small business enterprises. 1-203. The Commission shall recommend candidates for delegates to the Conference. It shall seek the majority of representatives from those engaged in small business activity, but shall also include others interested in small business concerns, such as government regulators, financiers, public interest and academic representatives. 1-204. Prior to the White House Conference on Small Business, the Commission shall hold open regional and local meetings or conferences. These open meetings shall seek to identify the specific issues which should be addressed at the Conference and shall solicit candidates for Conference delegates. 1-205. The Commission shall make periodic recommendations to the President and the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and shall offer such other advice at such times as the Administrator may request. 1-3. Administrative Provisions. 1-301. The Commission may request any Executive agency to furnish such information as may be useful in fulfilling the Commission's functions. Each such agency is authorized, to the extent permitted by law and within the limits of available funds, to furnish such information to the Commission. 1-302. Each member of the Commission who is not otherwise employed by the Federal Government shall receive no compensation from the United States by virtue of their service on the Commission, but all members may receive transportation and travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 5702 and 5703). 1-303. All necessary administrative staff services, support, facilities, and expenses of the Commission shall, to the extent permitted by law, be furnished by the Small Business Administration. 1-4. General Provisions. 1-401. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Executive order, the functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. I), except that of reporting annually to the Congress, which are applicable to the Commission shall be performed by the Administrator of the Small Business Administration in accordance with guidelines and procedures established by the Administrator of General Services. 1-402. The Commission shall terminate on December 31, 1979, or 60 days after the conclusion of the White House Conference on Small Business, whichever is sooner. JIMMY CARTER The White House, May 18, 1978. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:02 a.m., May 19, 1978]

🔗

Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12,061 (May 18, 1978), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12061-small-business-conference-commission.