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Executive Order 7323 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 7323—Creating a Committee to Complete the Summary of the Results and Accomplishments of the National Recovery Administration and Report Thereon

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Thursday, March 26, 1936
•
3 min read (545 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (545 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby created a Committee of Industrial Analysis to complete the summary of the results and accomplishments of the National Recovery Administration.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Public Health & Medical Institutions
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 Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 26, 1936, this order concerns Creating a Committee to Complete the Summary of the Results and Accomplishments of the National Recovery Administration and Report Thereon. There is hereby created a Committee of Industrial Analysis to complete the summary of the results and accomplishments of the National Recovery Administration. The Secretary of Commerce shall be Chairman of the Committee, and the other members shall be the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, and such other persons, not now officers of the United States, as the President may hereafter specially appoint.…

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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There is hereby created a Committee of Industrial Analysis to complete the summary of the results and accomplishments of the National Recovery Administration.

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The Secretary of Commerce shall be Chairman of the Committee, and the other members shall be the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, and such other persons, not now officers of the United States, as the President may hereafter specially appoint. 2.

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The entire Committee of Industrial Analysis shall— (a) Assemble and analyze the statistical information and governmental records of experience of the operations of the various trades and industries heretofore subject to codes of fair competition formulated under the authority of Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act (48 Stat. 195); and (b) Study the effects of such codes upon trade, industrial and labor conditions in general; and (c) Make generally available information with respect to industry, particularly hours, wages, child labor and other labor conditions.

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Provided that nothing in this Order shall be construed to authorize the Committee of Industrial Analysis to collect from the general public current statistical information, or to duplicate the statistical work now being performed by any existing agency of Government. 3.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Labor & Employment 🏷️ Economy & Finance
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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 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

"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: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.

Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
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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
52 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

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

Moderate Friction

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%).
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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
545
3,491 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
19.3
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested In me by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 (Act of April 8, 1935, c. 48, 49 Stat. 115), it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. There is hereby created a Committee of Industrial Analysis to complete the summary of the results and accomplishments of the National Recovery Administration. The Secretary of Commerce shall be Chairman of the Committee, and the other members shall be the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, and such other persons, not now officers of the United States, as the President may hereafter specially appoint. 2. The entire Committee of Industrial Analysis shall— (a) Assemble and analyze the statistical information and governmental records of experience of the operations of the various trades and industries heretofore subject to codes of fair competition formulated under the authority of Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act (48 Stat. 195); and (b) Study the effects of such codes upon trade, industrial and labor conditions in general; and (c) Make generally available information with respect to industry, particularly hours, wages, child labor and other labor conditions. Provided that nothing in this Order shall be construed to authorize the Committee of Industrial Analysis to collect from the general public current statistical information, or to duplicate the statistical work now being performed by any existing agency of Government. 3. Those members of the Committee of Industrial Analysis who are hereafter specially appointed shall prepare for the President an adequate and final review of the effects of the administration of Title I of the National Industrial Recovery Act upon particular industries or problems and as a whole. 4. In order to aid the Committee oi Industrial Analysis in carrying out its duties and to furnish employment for and assistance to educational, professional and clerical persons, there is hereby created, in connection with the office of the Secretary of Commerce, a Division of Industrial Economics. This Division of Industrial Economics shall be subject to the general supervision of the Committee of Industrial Analysis and shall assist such Committee in carryout its functions. 5. The Committee of Industrial Analysis shall have authority to— (a) Appoint and fix the compensation of a Chief of the Division of Industrial Economics and other necessary officers and employees without regard to the Civil Service laws or the Classification Act of 1923 as amended; and (b) Supervise the expenditure of the $100,000 transferred by the President in March 1936, from the funds available under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 to the Department of Commerce; and (c) Utilize, with the consent of the Secretary of Commerce, the administrative services, accounting facilities, supplies, and available space of the Department of Commerce. 6. The files, records, equipment and property transferred to the Department of Commerce from the National Recovery Administration by the authority of Executive Order No. 7252, dated December 21, 1935, shall be made available to the Committee of Industrial Analysis and the Division oi Industrial Economics. The employees transferred by said Executive Order shall be eligible for, but shall not be automatically entitled to, employment under the authority of paragraph 4(a) of this Order. 7. This Order shall become effective April 1, 1936. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

March 26, 1936.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 7323 (Mar. 26, 1936), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7323-creating-committee-complete-the-summary-the-results-and.