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Executive Order 12720 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.55) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 12720—President's Council on Rural America

George Bush George Bush
•
Monday, July 16, 1990
•
2 min read (395 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (395 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Council shall advise the President and the Economic Policy Council on how the Federal Government can improve its rural economic development policy.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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 George Bush on July 16, 1990, this order concerns President's Council on Rural America. There is established the President's Council on Rural America ("Council"). The Council shall be composed of not more than twenty (20) members to be appointed by the President. (b) The President shall appoint a Chairman and Vice Chairman from among the members of the Council. Sec. 2. Functions.

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

▪
Functions

The Council shall advise the President and the Economic Policy Council on how the Federal Government can improve its rural economic development policy.

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The Council shall be composed of not more than twenty (20) members to be appointed by the President.

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The President shall appoint a Chairman and Vice Chairman from among the members of the Council.

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In the performance of its advisory duties, the Council shall conduct such continuing reviews and assessments of the Federal Government's rural economic development policy as deemed necessary or appropriate by the Council.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Agriculture 🏷️ Economy & Finance
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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
48 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

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

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
395
2,525 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
16
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.55
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (2 sections)
Sec. 1: EstablishmentSec. 2: Functions

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, and in order to establish, in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), an advisory council on the rural economic development policy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Establishment. (a) There is established the President's Council on Rural America ("Council"). The Council shall be composed of not more than twenty (20) members to be appointed by the President. (b) The President shall appoint a Chairman and Vice Chairman from among the members of the Council.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Functions. (a) The Council shall advise the President and the Economic Policy Council on how the Federal Government can improve its rural economic development policy. (b) In the performance of its advisory duties, the Council shall conduct such continuing reviews and assessments of the Federal Government's rural economic development policy as deemed necessary or appropriate by the Council. Sec. 3 Administration. (a) The heads of executive agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide the Council such information with respect to rural economic development policy matters as the Council deems required for the purpose of carrying out its functions. (b) Members of the Council who are not otherwise officers or employees of the Federal Government shall serve without any compensation for their work on the Council. However, they shall be entitled to travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707). (c) To the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Farmers Home Administration shall provide the Council with administrative services, facilities, staff, and other support services necessary for the performance of its functions. Funds for the operation of the Council shall be provided by the Department of Agriculture. (d) Notwithstanding any other Executive order, the functions of the President under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, except that of reporting to the Congress, which are applicable to the Council, shall be performed by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with guidelines issued by the Administrator of General Services. (e) The Council shall terminate 2 years from the date of this order unless sooner extended. George Bush The White House, July 16, 1990.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (2)

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

Amends Executive Order 12869—Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees
William J. Clinton • 1993-09-30
Amends Executive Order 12783—Extending the President's Council on Rural America
George Bush • 1991-12-17
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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 12,720 (July 16, 1990), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12720-presidents-council-rural-america.