By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 4 of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 (44 Stat. 568, 570), the airspaces over the military and naval reservations and other areas hereinafter designated are hereby reserved and set aside for governmental purposes as airspace reservations within which civil aircraft, for reasons of public safety, are forbidden to be operated except by special permission in each case of that department of the Government of the United States having jurisdiction over the reservations or areas concerned: Picatinny Arsenal, Dover, New Jersey. Savanna Ordnance Depot, Savanna, Illinois. Nansemond Ordnance Depot, Portsmouth, Virginia. Wingate Ordnance Depot, Gallup, New Mexico. Camp Stanley Ordnance Reservations, Leon Springs, Texas. Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Fort Saulsbury, about 4 miles east of Milford, Delaware. Fort Pickens, western portion of Santa Rosa Island, Pensacola Bay, Florida. Fort Barry, near Point Bonita Lighthouse, San Francisco Bay, California. Fort Canby, near Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, Washington. Fort Casey, near Admiralty Head Lighthouse, Washington. Naval Ammunition Depot, Hingham, Massachusetts. Naval Ammunition Depot, Fort Lafayette, New York. Naval Ammunition Depot, Lake Denmark, New Jersey. Naval Ammunition Depot, St. Juliens Creek, Virginia. Naval Ammunition Depot, Hawthorne, Nevada. Naval Ammunition Depot, Mare Island, California. Naval Ammunition Depot, Puget Sound, Washington. Naval Mine Depot, Yorktown, Virginia. Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island. Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport, Washington. Naval Ordnance Plant, Baldwin, Long Island, New York. Naval Fuel Depot, San Diego, California. That part of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, with their territorial waters, lying west of the 167th meridian, west longitude. Persons operating aircraft within the airspace reservations herein established in violation of the provisions of this order or of the said Air Commerce Act of 1926 will be subject to the penalties prescribed by section 11 of the said act. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, August 12, 1935.
Executive Order 7138 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 7138—Establishing Airspace Reservations Over Certain Military and Naval Reservations and Other Areas
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (308 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
The airspaces over the military and naval reservations and other areas hereinafter designated are hereby reserved and set aside for governmental purposes as airspace reservations within which civil aircraft, for reasons of public safety, are forbidden to be operated except by special permission in each case of that department of the Government of the United States having jurisdiction over the reservations or areas concerned: Picatinny Arsenal, Dover, New Jersey.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments 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 Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 12, 1935, this order concerns Establishing Airspace Reservations Over Certain Military and Naval Reservations and Other Areas. The airspaces over the military and naval reservations and other areas hereinafter designated are hereby reserved and set aside for governmental purposes as airspace reservations within which civil aircraft, for reasons of public safety, are forbidden to be operated except by special permission in each case of that department of the Government of the United States having jurisdiction over the reservations or areas…
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
▪
The airspaces over the military and naval reservations and other areas hereinafter designated are hereby reserved and set aside for governmental purposes as airspace reservations within which civil aircraft, for reasons of public safety, are forbidden to be operated except by special permission in each case of that department of the Government of the United States having jurisdiction over the reservations or areas concerned: Picatinny Arsenal, Dover, New Jersey.
▪
Persons operating aircraft within the airspace reservations herein established in violation of the provisions of this order or of the said Air Commerce Act of 1926 will be subject to the penalties prescribed by section 11 of the said act.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
Policy Areas & Topics
🏛️
The Framers' Constitutional Council
1787 PrismEvaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
§
"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."
— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM
James Madison
Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy
"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)
Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.
Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
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
📐
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
38 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Moderate Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
Moderate Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
Youngstown Jacksonian Tier
The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.
Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️
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
308
2,125 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
11.1
High School
Text size:
🔗
Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)
Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.
Dwight D. Eisenhower • 1958-05-16
Related Executive Orders
Other executive actions signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt around this period.
EO 7139 Aug 12, 1935
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7139—Extending the Jurisdiction of the Electric Home and Farm Authority
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
I hereby designate the Electric Home and Farm Authority, a corporation organized under the laws of the District of Columbia, as an agency of the United States, to continue, in so far as permitted by its certificate of incorporation, the functions of, and to carry on the…
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 1m
EO 7137 Aug 12, 1935
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7137—Amendment of Section 3 of Civil-Service Rule II
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Section 3 of civil-service rule II is hereby amended to read as follows: " Appointment without examination .-Appointments to the excepted positions named in schedule A of these rules may be made without examination or upon noncompetitive examination.
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 1m
EO 7136 Aug 12, 1935
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7136—Coal Land Restoration, New Mexico No. 53
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The Executive order of July 9, 1910, creating Coal Land Withdrawal, New Mexico No. 1, is hereby revoked insofar as, and to the extent that, it affects the following-described lands: NEW MEXICO MERIDIAN T. 5 N., R. 19 W., sec. 28, S½N½, S½; sec. 30, all.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Grade 4 • 1m
EO 7141 Aug 13, 1935
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7141—Designating the Honorable Harvey M. Hutchinson as Acting Judge of the District Court of the United States for Puerto Rico
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
I hereby designate and authorize the Honorable Harvey M. Hutchinson, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, to perform and discharge the duties of the judge of the District Court of the United States for Puerto Rico and to sign all necessary papers and records…
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 1m
EO 7140 Aug 13, 1935
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7140—Authorizing the Appointment of Mrs. Ruth Hampton as Assistant Director, Division of Territories and Island Possessions, Without Regard to Civil-Service Rules
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Mrs. Ruth Hampton, of Illinois, may be appointed as Assistant Director, Division of Territories and Island Possessions, Department of the Interior, without compliance with the civil-service rules and without being accorded a classified status.
Franklin D. Roosevelt College Level • 1m
EO 7142 Aug 14, 1935
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 7142—Establishing Valentine Migratory Waterfowl Refuge
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The following-described lands, acquired or to be acquired by the United States, in Cherry County, Nebraska, consisting of 68,910 acres, more or less, be, and they are hereby, reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of Agriculture, subject to valid existing rights…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Grade 3 • 3m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 7138 (Aug. 12, 1935), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7138-establishing-airspace-reservations-over-certain-military-and-naval.
