By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States of America, including Section 107(b) of Title 3 of the United States Code, in order to provide limited employment authority for the Office of Administration, it is hereby ordered that Section 4 of Executive Order No. 12028 of December 12, 1977, is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 4. (a) Subject to such direction or approval as the President may provide or require, the Director shall organize the Office of Administration, contract for supplies and services, and do all other things that the President, as head of the Office of Administration, might do. "(b) The Director is designated to perform the functions of the President under Section 107(b) of Title 3 of the United States Code. "(c) The Director may appoint and fix the pay of employees pursuant to the provisions of Section 107(b) (1) (A) of Title 3 of the United States Code without regard to any other provision of law regulating the employment or compensation of persons in the Government service. Under that section the Director may also fix the pay of an employee serving in a competitive position or in the career service in order to avoid the pay limitation imposed by Section 114 of Title 3 of the United States Code. The provisions of other laws regulating the employment or compensation of persons in the Government service shall continue to apply to such employee. "(d) The Director shall not be accountable for the program and management responsibilities of units within the Executive Office of the President; the head of each unit shall remain responsible for those functions.". JIMMY CARTER The White House, February 26, 1979. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 5:09 p.m., February 26, 1979]
Executive Order 12122 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Executive Order 12122—Office of Administration
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 1 min read (299 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Of Executive Order No. 12028 of December 12, 1977, is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 4.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Branch Departments General Body of the People
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 February 26, 1979, this order concerns Office of Administration. Section 4 of Executive Order No. 12028 of December 12, 1977, is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 4. (a) Subject to such direction or approval as the President may provide or require, the Director shall organize the Office of Administration, contract for supplies and services, and do all other things that the President, as head of the Office of Administration, might do.
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
▪
Of Executive Order No. 12028 of December 12, 1977, is amended to read as follows: "Sec. 4.
▪
Subject to such direction or approval as the President may provide or require, the Director shall organize the Office of Administration, contract for supplies and services, and do all other things that the President, as head of the Office of Administration, might do.
▪
"(b) The Director is designated to perform the functions of the President under Section 107(b) of Title 3 of the United States Code.
▪
"(c) The Director may appoint and fix the pay of employees pursuant to the provisions of Section 107(b) (1) (A) of Title 3 of the United States Code without regard to any other provision of law regulating the employment or compensation of persons in the Government service.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Executive Branch Departments
🏛️ General Body of the People
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
"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
📐
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
299
1,778 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15.1
College Level
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 12028 Dec 12, 1977
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12028—Executive Office of the President
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
The establishment, provided by Section 2 of Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1977 (42 FR 56101), of the Office of Administration in the Executive Office of the President shall be effective, as authorized by Section 7 of that Plan, on December 4, 1977. SEC. 2.
Jimmy Carter Post-Graduate Legal • 4m
EO 12123 Feb 26, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12123—Offshore Oil Spill Pollution
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
1-1. Assertion of Oil Pollution Claims. 1-101. The authority vested in the President by Section 303(b)(3) of Title III of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978, hereinafter referred to as the Act (92 Stat. 674, 43 U.S.C. 1813(b)(3)), is delegated to the…
Jimmy Carter High School • 2m
EO 12121 Feb 26, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12121—Energy Coordinating Committee
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
-102 of Executive Order No. 12083 of September 27, 1978, is hereby amended by adding in alphabetical order the following: . "(x) The Director of the Community Services Administration. "(y) The Chairman of the Council on Wage and Price Stability.".
Jimmy Carter High School • 1m
EO 12124 Feb 28, 1979
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12124—Generalized System of Preferences
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
In order to subdivide existing items for purposes of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) are modified as provided in Annex I, attached hereto and made a part hereof. SEC. 2.
Jimmy Carter College Level • 3m
EO 12120 Feb 14, 1979
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12120—The Honorable Adolph Dubs
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Pursuant to the provisions of 36 U.S.C. 175(m), that on the day of interment, 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 District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its…
Jimmy Carter College Level • 1m
EO 12119 Feb 14, 1979
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 12119—Executive Schedule
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
By the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America by Section 5317 of Title 5 of the United States Code, and in order to place the position of Counselor on Legislative and Intergovernmental Policy, Department of the Treasury in level IV of the Executive…
Jimmy Carter College Level • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 12,122 (Feb. 26, 1979), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12122-office-administration.
