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Executive Order 12364 Superseded ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service

Executive Order 12364—The Presidential Management Intern Program

Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan
•
Monday, May 24, 1982
•
3 min read (642 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (642 words) • ● Superseded
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Office of Personnel Management shall provide specific guidance as to what constitutes an appropriate advanced degree.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
Inspect unabridged text ↓

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

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

Signed by President Ronald Reagan on May 24, 1982, this order concerns The Presidential Management Intern Program. The purpose of the Program is to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, a career in the analysis and management of public policies and programs. Individuals selected for the Program will be known as Presidential Management Interns. Sec. 2.

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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The Office of Personnel Management shall provide specific guidance as to what constitutes an appropriate advanced degree.

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The Office of Personnel Management shall develop appropriate procedures for the recruitment, nomination, screening, placement and continuing career development of outstanding individuals possessing the qualifications described above.

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In developing those procedures, the Office of Personnel Management shall be guided by the following principles and policies: (1) The number of new Presidential Management Interns selected shall not exceed two hundred in any fiscal year.

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Final placement of Presidential Management Interns shall be made by the head of the department, agency, or component within the Executive Office of the President in which the Intern is to be employed, or by the designee thereof.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Labor & Employment 🏷️ Education
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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 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 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
47 / 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

Moderate Friction

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
642
4,200 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
15
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (7 sections)
Sec. 1Sec. 2Sec. 3Sec. 4Sec. 5Sec. 6Sec. 7

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including Sections 3301 and 3302 of Title 5 of the United States Code, and in order to provide for the recruitment and selection of outstanding employees for careers in public sector management, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

There is hereby reconstituted the Presidential Management Intern Program. The purpose of the Program is to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, a career in the analysis and management of public policies and programs. Individuals selected for the Program will be known as Presidential Management Interns.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Eligible individuals are those who have pursued a course of study at the graduate level which demonstrates both an exceptional ability and the commitment stated above. Such individuals at the time of application must have recently received or must expect to receive soon an appropriate advanced degree.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

(a) The Office of Personnel Management shall provide specific guidance as to what constitutes an appropriate advanced degree. (b) The Office of Personnel Management shall develop appropriate procedures for the recruitment, nomination, screening, placement and continuing career development of outstanding individuals possessing the qualifications described above. (c) In developing those procedures, the Office of Personnel Management shall be guided by the following principles and policies: (1) The number of new Presidential Management Interns selected shall not exceed two hundred in any fiscal year. (2) Final placement of Presidential Management Interns shall be made by the head of the department, agency, or component within the Executive Office of the President in which the Intern is to be employed, or by the designee thereof. (3) Universities and colleges participating in the Program shall make nominations for the Program. In making nominations, they shall establish competitive selection processes and procedures to ensure that all applicants receive careful and thorough review. (4) The procedures so developed shall provide for such affirmative actions as the Office of Personnel Management deems appropriate to assure equal employment opportunity. The procedures shall also provide for the application of appropriate veterans preference criteria.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

(a) Successful candidates shall be appointed as Presidential Management Interns to positions in Schedule A of the excepted service. The appointment shall not exceed two years unless extended by the Federal department or agency, with the concurrence of the Office of Personnel Management, for up to one additional year. (b) Tenure for the Presidential Management Interns shall be governed by the following principles and policies: (1) Assigned responsibilities shall be consistent with an Intern's educational background and career interests, and the purposes of this Program. (2) Continuation in the Program shall be contingent upon satisfactory performance by the Interns throughout the internship period. (3) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this Section, service as an Intern shall confer no rights to further Federal employment in either the competitive or excepted service upon the expiration of the internship period. (4) Competitive civil service status may be granted to Interns who satisfactorily complete their internships and meet all other requirements prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

Those individuals who are currently undergoing the process of selection, or who were selected or appointed under the provisions of Executive Order No. 12008 and who have not at this time completed their scheduled period of excepted service, may continue their internships under the terms of this Order.

Sec. 6. #sec-6

The Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Order.

Sec. 7. #sec-7

Executive Order No. 12008 of August 25, 1977 is revoked. RONALD REAGAN The White House, May 24, 1982. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:39 p.m., May 24, 1982]

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

References Executive Order 13318—Presidential Management Fellows Program
George W. Bush • 2003-11-21
Amends Executive Order 12645—Amending Executive Order 12364, Relating to the Presidential Management Intern Program
Ronald Reagan • 1988-07-12
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 12,364 (May 24, 1982), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12364-the-presidential-management-intern-program.