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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 13480 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.23) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 13480—Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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4 min read (712 words)
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73 Fed. Reg. 73991

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (712 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by revising section 1-210 to read as follows: "1-210.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 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 November 26, 2008, this order concerns Exclusions From the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program. The subdivisions of the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation, and the Treasury set forth in sections 2 through 6 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.

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

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Department of Energy

Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by revising section 1-210 to read as follows: "1-210.

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The subdivisions of the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation, and the Treasury set forth in sections 2 through 6 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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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

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
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
36 / 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

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

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
712
4,947 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
13.9
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.23
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, including section 7103(b)(1) of title 5, United States Code, and in order to reflect the effects of the reorganization and restructuring of the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation, and the Treasury on their subdivisions exempted from coverage under the Federal Labor-Management Relations Program, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Determinations. The subdivisions of the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, Transportation, and the Treasury set forth in sections 2 through 6 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is further determined that chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, cannot be applied to these subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Department of Energy. Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by revising section 1-210 to read as follows: "1-210. Agencies or subdivisions of the Department of Energy: (a) The National Nuclear Security Administration. (b) The Office of Intelligence. (c) The Office of Counterintelligence. (d) The Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. (e) The Savannah River Operations Office."

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Department of Homeland Security. Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by revising section 1-214 to read as follows: "1-214. Agencies or subdivisions of the Department of Homeland Security: (a) Office of the Military Advisor. (b) The following office within the Management Directorate: (1) Office of Security. (c) Office of Operations Coordination. (d) Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement. (e) Office of Intelligence and Analysis. (f) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. (g) The following offices and subdivisions within the United States Coast Guard: (1) Maritime Intelligence Fusion Centers, Atlantic. (2) Pacific Area Intelligence Division. (3) Intelligence Coordination Center. (4) Coast Guard Investigative Service. (5) Coast Guard Security Center. (h) The following offices and subdivisions within United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement: (1) The Office of Investigations. (2) The Office of International Affairs. (3) The Office of Intelligence. (4) The National Incident Response Unit. (i) The following office within the Transportation Security Administration: (1) The Office of Law Enforcement/Federal Air Marshal Service. (j) The following office within United States Customs and Border Protection: (1) The Office of Intelligence and Operations Coordination. (k) The following offices and subdivisions within the Federal Emergency Management Agency: (1) The following offices and subdivisions within the Office of National Continuity Programs: (A) The Office of the Assistant Administrator. (B) The Operations Division. (C) The Continuity of Operations Division. (D) The Readiness Division. (E) The Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems Division. (2) The following subdivisions within the Disaster Operations Directorate: (A) The Mobile Emergency Response Support Operations, including Mobile Emergency Response Support Detachments. (B) The FEMA Operations Center. (C) The Alternate FEMA Operations Center."

Sec. 4. #sec-4

Department of Justice. Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by: (a) revising subsection (g) of section 1-209 to read as follows: "(g) National Security Division."; and (b) adding to the end of section 1-209 the following new subsection: "(h) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives."

Sec. 5. #sec-5

Department of Transportation. Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by revising section 1-213 to read as follows: "1-213. The following subdivision of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Transportation: National Security Coordination Division, Office of Emergency Operations and Investigations, FAA Office of Security and Hazardous Materials."

Sec. 6. #sec-6

Department of the Treasury. Executive Order 12171 of November 19, 1979, as amended, is further amended by revising section 1-203 to read as follows: "1-203. Agencies or subdivisions of the Department of the Treasury: (a) The Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. (b) The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. (c) Criminal Investigation, Internal Revenue Service. (d) The Trade Analysis and Enforcement Division, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau."

Sec. 7. #sec-7

This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its agencies, instrumentalities, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. George W. Bush The White House, November 26, 2008.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 13,480, 73 Fed. Reg. 73,991 (Nov. 26, 2008).