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Executive Order 13842 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.60) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

Executive Order 13842—Establishing an Exception to Competitive Examining Rules for Appointment to Certain Positions in the United States Marshals Service, Department of Justice

Donald J. Trump (1st Term) Donald J. Trump (1st Term)
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Tuesday, July 10, 2018
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2 min read (441 words)
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83 Fed. Reg. 32753

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (441 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators of the USMS appointed under Schedule B may, upon completion of 3 years of substantially continuous, fully satisfactory service, be converted non-competitively to career appointments, provided they meet the qualifications and other requirements established by the Director.

View all 3 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
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 Donald J. Trump (1st Term) on July 10, 2018, this order concerns Establishing an Exception to Competitive Examining Rules for Appointment to Certain Positions in the United States Marshals Service, Department of Justice. Good administration of the executive branch necessitates that the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), a component of the Department of Justice, have a hiring authority that is currently available to other Federal law enforcement agencies and that would, among other things, enable the USMS to be competitive in recruiting high-quality Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators, to better hire and retain qualified…

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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Providing Conversion Authority

Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators of the USMS appointed under Schedule B may, upon completion of 3 years of substantially continuous, fully satisfactory service, be converted non-competitively to career appointments, provided they meet the qualifications and other requirements established by the Director.

▪

Appointments to the positions identified in subsection (a) of this section: (i) may not be made to positions of a confidential or policy-determining character or to positions in the Senior Executive Service; and (ii) shall constitute Schedule B appointments that are: (A) excepted from the competitive service; and (B) subject to laws and regulations governing Schedule B appointments, including basic qualification standards established by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (Director) for the applicable occupation and grade level.

▪

The Director shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to implement this order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Criminal Justice & Law Enforcement
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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: 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%).
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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
441
2,884 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17.7
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.60
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
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Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (3 sections)
Sec. 1: Providing Appointment AuthoritySec. 2: Providing Conversion AuthoritySec. 3: General Provisions

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 3301 and 3302 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1 . #sec-1

Providing Appointment Authority . (a) Good administration of the executive branch necessitates that the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), a component of the Department of Justice, have a hiring authority that is currently available to other Federal law enforcement agencies and that would, among other things, enable the USMS to be competitive in recruiting high-quality Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators, to better hire and retain qualified individuals in certain duty locations, and to more expeditiously fill vacant positions consistent with law enforcement needs. Accordingly, it is appropriate to place Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators of the USMS in Schedule B of the excepted service, as it is impracticable to hold open competition or to apply usual competitive examining procedures for those positions related to Federal law enforcement. (b) Appointments to the positions identified in subsection (a) of this section: (i) may not be made to positions of a confidential or policy-determining character or to positions in the Senior Executive Service; and (ii) shall constitute Schedule B appointments that are: (A) excepted from the competitive service; and (B) subject to laws and regulations governing Schedule B appointments, including basic qualification standards established by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (Director) for the applicable occupation and grade level.

Sec. 2 . #sec-2

Providing Conversion Authority . (a) Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators of the USMS appointed under Schedule B may, upon completion of 3 years of substantially continuous, fully satisfactory service, be converted non-competitively to career appointments, provided they meet the qualifications and other requirements established by the Director. (b) The Director shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to implement this order.

Sec. 3 . #sec-3

General Provisions . (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) 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. DONALD J. TRUMP The White House, July 10, 2018.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 13,842, 83 Fed. Reg. 32,753 (July 10, 2018).