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Executive Orders Archive

Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 12255 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 12255—Holiday for Federal Employees

Friday, December 5, 1980
1 min read (170 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

This executive order, signed by President Jimmy Carter on 1980-12-05, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Holiday for Federal Employees." It is a direct, concise executive instruction delivering focused administrative or military commands to department leadership.

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

All Executive departments and agencies shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 1980, the day following Christmas Day, except as provided by Section 1-102 below.
Friday, December 26, 1980, shall be considered a holiday for the purposes of the pay and leave of employees of the United States.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
Total Words
170
1,055 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.6
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.02
Framers' Alignment index
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12255, Jimmy Carter (Dec 5, 1980). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12255-holiday-for-federal-employees.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)