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Executive Order 13401 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.52) 📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service

Executive Order 13401—Responsibilities of Federal Departments and Agencies With Respect to Volunteer Community Service

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Thursday, April 27, 2006
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3 min read (679 words)
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71 Fed. Reg. 25737

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (679 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Liaison shall foster within the Liaison's agency a culture of taking responsibility, service to others, and good citizenship.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

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 W. Bush on April 27, 2006, this order concerns Responsibilities of Federal Departments and Agencies With Respect to Volunteer Community Service. The head of each agency shall, within 20 days after the date of this order, designate an officer or employee of such agency compensated at a level at or above the minimum level of pay of a member of the Senior Executive Service to serve under the authority of the head of the agency as the agency liaison for volunteer community service (Liaison).

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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Goals and Responsibilities of the Liaison

The Liaison shall foster within the Liaison's agency a culture of taking responsibility, service to others, and good citizenship.

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Administrative Provisions

The USA Freedom Corps shall provide such information with respect to volunteer community service programs and activities and such advice and assistance as may be required by agencies in performing their functions under this order.

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Reporting Provisions

Not later than 180 days from the date of this order and annually thereafter, each agency Liaison shall prepare and submit a report to the USA Freedom Corps that includes a description of the agency's activities in performing its functions under this order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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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 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
40 / 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

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%).
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
679
4,356 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.3
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.52
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America and in order to help ensure that the Federal Government supports and encourages volunteer community service, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Designation of a Liaison for Volunteer Community Service. (a) The head of each agency shall, within 20 days after the date of this order, designate an officer or employee of such agency compensated at a level at or above the minimum level of pay of a member of the Senior Executive Service to serve under the authority of the head of the agency as the agency liaison for volunteer community service (Liaison). (b) The Liaison in each agency shall promote and support community service on a voluntary basis among Federal employees, including those approaching retirement; promote the use of skilled volunteers; and facilitate public recognition for volunteer community service. (c) The head of each agency shall prescribe arrangements within the agency for support and supervision of the Liaison that ensure high priority and substantial visibility for the function of the Liaison within the agency under this order. (d) Each executive agency shall provide its Liaison with appropriate administrative support and other resources to meet the responsibilities of the Liaison under this order.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Goals and Responsibilities of the Liaison. The Liaison shall foster within the Liaison's agency a culture of taking responsibility, service to others, and good citizenship. Toward that end, the Liaison shall: (a) identify, catalog, and review all activities of the agency that relate to volunteer community service, including, but not limited to rules, orders, grant programs, external relations, and other policies and practices, and make such recommendations to the head of the agency for adjustments as may be appropriate; (b) actively work with USA Freedom Corps to promote volunteer community service among agency employees by providing information about community service opportunities; (c) coordinate within the agency actions to facilitate public recognition for volunteer community service; (d) promote, expand, and enhance skilled volunteer community service opportunities; (e) work with the USA Freedom Corps and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to consider any appropriate changes in agency policies or practices that are not currently consistent with OPM guidance; (f) coordinate the awarding of the President's Volunteer Service Award to recognize outstanding volunteer service by employees within the agency; and (g) act as a liaison with the USA Freedom Corps.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Administrative Provisions. (a) The USA Freedom Corps shall provide such information with respect to volunteer community service programs and activities and such advice and assistance as may be required by agencies in performing their functions under this order. (b) Executive Order 12820 of November 5, 1992, is revoked. (c) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (d) As used in this order: (i) "agency" has the meaning of "executive agency" as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code; and (ii)"USA Freedom Corps" means the Director of the USA Freedom Corps Office established by section 4 of Executive Order 13254 of January 29, 2002.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Reporting Provisions. (a) Not later than 180 days from the date of this order and annually thereafter, each agency Liaison shall prepare and submit a report to the USA Freedom Corps that includes a description of the agency's activities in performing its functions under this order. (b) A Liaison's first report under subsection (a) shall include annual performance indicators and measurable objectives for agency action approved by the head of the agency. Each report filed thereafter under subsection (a) shall measure the agency's performance against the indicators and objectives approved by the head of the agency.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

Judicial Review. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party at law or in equity against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities, officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. George W. Bush The White House, April 27, 2006.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 13,401, 71 Fed. Reg. 25,737 (Apr. 27, 2006).