Executive Order 12577 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 12577—Closing of Government Departments and Agencies on Friday, December 26, 1986

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Monday, December 22, 1986

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1 min read (168 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 Ronald Reagan on 1986-12-22, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Closing of Government Departments and Agencies on Friday, December 26, 1986." 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, 1986, the day following Christmas Day, except as provided in Section 2 below.

▪ Friday, December 26, 1986, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order No.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

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

Total Words

168

1,005 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

11.1

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12577, Ronald Reagan (Dec 22, 1986). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12577-closing-government-departments-and-agencies-friday-december-26-1986.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. All Executive departments and agencies shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 1986, the day following Christmas Day, except as provided in Section 2 below. Sec. 2. The heads of Executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 26, 1986, for reasons of national security or defense or for other public reasons. Sec. 3. Friday, December 26, 1986, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order No. 11582 and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States. RONALD REAGAN The White House, December 22, 1986. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:30 a.m., December 23, 1986]