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Executive Order 13540 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.41) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 13540—Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development

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Monday, April 26, 2010
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3 min read (624 words)
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75 Fed. Reg. 22497

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (624 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

The Administrator shall serve as Chair of the Task Force and shall direct its work.

⚖️ 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 Barack Obama on April 26, 2010, this order concerns Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development. The Administrator of the Small Business Administration (Administrator) shall establish within the Small Business Administration an Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development (Task Force). Sec. 2. Membership . The Administrator shall serve as Chair of the Task Force and shall direct its 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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Membership

The Administrator shall serve as Chair of the Task Force and shall direct its work.

▪
Functions

Consistent with the Act and other applicable law, the Task Force shall: (a) consult regularly with veterans service and military organizations in performing the duties of the Task Force; (b) coordinate administrative and regulatory activities and develop proposals relating to: (i) improving capital access and capacity of small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans through loans, surety bonding, and franchising; (ii) ensuring achievement of the pre-established Federal contracting goals for small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans through expanded mentor-protégé assistance and matching such small business concerns with contracting opportunities; (iii)…

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
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%).
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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
624
4,206 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
28.7
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.41
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 102 of title I of the Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-186) (the "Act"), and in order to establish an interagency task force to coordinate the efforts of Federal agencies to improve capital, business development opportunities, and pre-established Federal contracting goals for small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Establishment . The Administrator of the Small Business Administration (Administrator) shall establish within the Small Business Administration an Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development (Task Force).

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Membership . The Administrator shall serve as Chair of the Task Force and shall direct its work. Other members shall consist of: (a) a senior level representative, designated by the head of the respective department or agency, from each of the following: (i) the Department of the Treasury; (ii) the Department of Defense; (iii) the Department of Labor; (iv) the Department of Veterans Affairs; (v) the Office of Management and Budget; (vi) the Small Business Administration (in addition to the Administrator); and (vii) the General Services Administration; and (b) four representatives from a veterans' service or military organization or association, who shall be appointed by the Administrator.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Functions . Consistent with the Act and other applicable law, the Task Force shall: (a) consult regularly with veterans service and military organizations in performing the duties of the Task Force; (b) coordinate administrative and regulatory activities and develop proposals relating to: (i) improving capital access and capacity of small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans through loans, surety bonding, and franchising; (ii) ensuring achievement of the pre-established Federal contracting goals for small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans and service-disabled veterans through expanded mentor-protégé assistance and matching such small business concerns with contracting opportunities; (iii) increasing the integrity of certifications of status as a small business concern owned and controlled by a veteran or service-disabled veteran; (iv) reducing paperwork and administrative burdens on veterans in accessing business development and entrepreneurship opportunities; (v) increasing and improving training and counseling services provided to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans; and (vi) making other improvements relating to the support for veterans business development by the Federal Government; and (c) not later than 1 year after its first meeting and annually thereafter, forward to the President a report on the performance of its functions, including any proposals developed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

General Provisions . (a) The Small Business Administration shall provide funding and administrative support for the Task Force to the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations. (b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise effect: (i) authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; and (ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (c) Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.) (FACA), may apply to the Task Force, any functions of the President under the FACA, except for those in section 6 of the FACA, shall be performed by the Administrator in accordance with guidelines issued by the Administrator of General Services. (d) 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 departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. BARACK OBAMA The White House, April 26, 2010.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (6)

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

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 13,540, 75 Fed. Reg. 22,497 (Apr. 26, 2010).