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Executive Order 12103 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.44) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 12103—President's Commission on the Coal Industry

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Thursday, December 14, 1978
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4 min read (838 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (838 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is established the President's Commission on the Coal Industry. 1-102.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities

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 December 14, 1978, this order concerns President's Commission on the Coal Industry. 1-1. Establishment. 1-101. There is established the President's Commission on the Coal Industry. 1-102. The membership of the Commission shall be composed of five persons appointed by the President from citizens in private life. One shall represent the interests of labor, one shall represent management and three shall represent the general public.

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 is established the President's Commission on the Coal Industry. 1-102.

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The membership of the Commission shall be composed of five persons appointed by the President from citizens in private life.

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One shall represent the interests of labor, one shall represent management and three shall represent the general public.

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The labor and management representatives shall be chosen from among candidates recommended by the United Mine Workers of America and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association of America, but shall not be members of these organizations.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
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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

"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
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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
46 / 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

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
838
5,281 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
14.8
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 modify and continue, in accord with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. I), a balanced forum to review the state of the Nation's coal industry, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1-1. Establishment. 1-101. There is established the President's Commission on the Coal Industry. 1-102. The membership of the Commission shall be composed of five persons appointed by the President from citizens in private life. One shall represent the interests of labor, one shall represent management and three shall represent the general public. The labor and management representatives shall be chosen from among candidates recommended by the United Mine Workers of America and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association of America, but shall not be members of these organizations. The President shall designate one of the members representing the general public to chair the Commission. 1-103. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives may designate three members of their respective Houses to attend and participate in all meetings of the Commission ex officio. 1-104. The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Energy or their designees may also attend and participate in all meetings of the Commission ex officio. 1-2. Functions. 1-201. The Commission shall conduct a comprehensive review of the state of the coal industry in the United States with particular emphasis on matters pertaining to productivity, capital investment, and the general economic health of the industry; collective bargaining, grievance procedures, and such other aspects of labormanagement relations as the Commission deems appropriate; health, safety and living conditions in the Nation's coal fields; the development and application of new technologies to the industry; the impact on the coal industry of Federal regulations; and such other matters as the Commission deems appropriate. 1-202. The five members appointed by the President shall prepare and transmit a final report of their findings and recommendations to the President, the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Energy. 1-203. To assist the Commission in the exercise of its functions, the Commission may sponsor a White House conference on the future of the coal industry. 1-3. Administration. 1-301. The Chairman of the Commission is authorized to appoint and fix the compensation of a staff and such other persons as may be necessary to carry out its functions, subject to the applicable provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, including Section 7(d)(2) thereof. Supergrade staff positions may not include more than one position at the GS-18 level, one position at the GS-17 level, and three positions at the GS-16 level, and shall be subject to the applicable provisions of law, including any applicable provisions of Sections 3324 and 5108 of Title 5 of the United States Code. The Commission may obtain services in accordance with the provisions of Section 3109 of Title 5 of the United States Code, to the extent that funds are available therefor. 1-302. To the extent authorized by law and requested by the Chairman of the Commission or by the Departments of Labor or Energy, the General Services Administration shall provide the Commission with necessary administrative services, facilities and support on reimbursable basis. 1-303. The Department of Labor and the Department of Energy shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of funds, provide the Commission with such information, advice, facilities, support, funds and services, including staff, as may be necessary for the effective performance of the Commission's functions. 1-304. The Commission may request any Executive agency to furnish such information or assistance it deems necessary to carry out its functions. Each such agency is authorized, to the extent permitted by law, to furnish such information and assistance to the Commission upon request of the Chairman. 1-305. Each member of the Commission may receive compensation at the rate now or hereafter prescribed by law for GS-15 of the General Schedule for each day such member is engaged in the work of the Commission. Each member may also receive travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence (5 U.S.C. 5702 and 5703). Individuals designated to attend meetings under Section 1-103 of this Order may also receive such travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, which are permitted by law. 1-306. The functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. I) which are applicable to the Commission, except that of reporting annually to the Congress, shall be performed by the Administrator of General Services. 1-4. Final Report and Termination. 1-401. The final report required by Section 1-202 of this Order shall be transmitted not later than one year from the date of this Order. 1-402. The Commission shall terminate one year from the date of this Order. 1-403. Executive Order No. 12062 of May 26, 1978, is revoked. JIMMY CARTER The White House, December 14, 1978. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:32 a.m., December 14, 1978]

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12,103 (Dec. 14, 1978), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12103-presidents-commission-the-coal-industry.