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Executive Order 7522 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations

Executive Order 7522—Charles Sheldon Antelope Range in Nevada

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Monday, December 21, 1936
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4 min read (839 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (839 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Executive Order No. 7178 of September 6, 1935, which reserved and set apart certain lands in Oregon and Nevada as the Hart Mountain Game Range, is hereby revoked as to the following-described lands in Nevada: MOUNT DIABLO MERIDIAN T. 45 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1, 2, and 3; secs. 10 to 15, inclusive; and secs. 19 to 36, inclusive.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
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 December 21, 1936, this order concerns Charles Sheldon Antelope Range in Nevada. Executive Order No. 7178 of September 6, 1935, which reserved and set apart certain lands in Oregon and Nevada as the Hart Mountain Game Range, is hereby revoked as to the following-described lands in Nevada: MOUNT DIABLO MERIDIAN T. 45 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1, 2, and 3; secs. 10 to 15, inclusive; and secs. 19 to 36, inclusive.

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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Executive Order No. 7178 of September 6, 1935, which reserved and set apart certain lands in Oregon and Nevada as the Hart Mountain Game Range, is hereby revoked as to the following-described lands in Nevada: MOUNT DIABLO MERIDIAN T. 45 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1, 2, and 3; secs. 10 to 15, inclusive; and secs. 19 to 36, inclusive.

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Subject to the conditions expressed in the above-mentioned acts and to all existing valid rights, the lands described in section 1 of this order are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry and reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources and for the protection and improvement of public grazing lands and natural forage resources: Provided , That nothing herein contained shall restrict prospecting, locating, developing, mining, entering, leasing, or patenting the mineral resources of the lands under the applicable laws: Provided further , That any lands within the described area that are otherwise withdrawn or reserved will be affected hereby only so far as may be consistent…

▪

This range or preserve, so far as it relates to conservation and development of wildlife, shall be under the joint jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, and they shall have power jointly to make such rules and regulations for its protection, administration, regulation, and improvement, and for the removal and disposition of surplus game animals, as they may deem necessary to accomplish its purposes, and the range or preserve, being within a grazing district duly established pursuant to the provisions of the act of June 28, 1934, ch. 865, 48 Stat. 1269, as amended by the act of June 26, 1936, Public No. 827, 74th Congress, shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior so far as it…

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This preserve shall be known as the Charles Sheldon Antelope Range.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
🏛️

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)
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"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 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

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

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

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
839
4,859 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12
High School
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (4 sections)

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me as President of the United States and by the act of June 25, 1910, ch. 421, 36 Stat. 847, as amended by the act of August 24, 1912, ch. 369, 37 Stat. 497, it is ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Executive Order No. 7178 of September 6, 1935, which reserved and set apart certain lands in Oregon and Nevada as the Hart Mountain Game Range, is hereby revoked as to the following-described lands in Nevada: MOUNT DIABLO MERIDIAN T. 45 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1, 2, and 3; secs. 10 to 15, inclusive; and secs. 19 to 36, inclusive. T. 46 N., R. 22 E., secs. 1 to 18, inclusive; secs. 22 to 27, inclusive; and secs. 34, 35, and 36. T. 47 N., R. 22 E., all. Tps. 43 to 47 N., inclusive, R. 23 E., all. Tps. 46 and 47 N., R. 23 1/2 E., unsurveyed, all. Tps. 43 to 45 1/2 N., inclusive, R. 24 E., all. Tps. 46 and 47 N., R. 24 E., partly unsurveyed, all. Tps. 43 and 44 N., R. 24 1/2 E., all. Tps. 43 to 47 N., inclusive, Rs. 25 and 26 E., partly unsurveyed, all. Tps. 46 and 47 N., R. 27 E., partly unsurveyed, all. T. 46 N., R. 28 E., secs. 5 to 8, inclusive; secs. 17 to 20, inclusive; and secs. 29 to 32, inclusive. T. 47 N., R. 28 E., secs. 19 and 20, and secs. 29 to 32, inclusive, unsurveyed; aggregating approximately 539,000 acres.

Section 2. #sec-2

Subject to the conditions expressed in the above-mentioned acts and to all existing valid rights, the lands described in section 1 of this order are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry and reserved and set apart for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources and for the protection and improvement of public grazing lands and natural forage resources: Provided , That nothing herein contained shall restrict prospecting, locating, developing, mining, entering, leasing, or patenting the mineral resources of the lands under the applicable laws: Provided further , That any lands within the described area that are otherwise withdrawn or reserved will be affected hereby only so far as may be consistent with the uses and purposes for which such prior withdrawal or reservation was made: And provided further , That upon the termination of any private right to, or appropriation of, any public lands within the exterior limits of the area included in this order, or upon the revocation of prior withdrawals unless expressly otherwise provided in the order of revocation, the lands involved shall become a part of this preserve.

Section 3. #sec-3

This range or preserve, so far as it relates to conservation and development of wildlife, shall be under the joint jurisdiction of the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, and they shall have power jointly to make such rules and regulations for its protection, administration, regulation, and improvement, and for the removal and disposition of surplus game animals, as they may deem necessary to accomplish its purposes, and the range or preserve, being within a grazing district duly established pursuant to the provisions of the act of June 28, 1934, ch. 865, 48 Stat. 1269, as amended by the act of June 26, 1936, Public No. 827, 74th Congress, shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior so far as it relates to the public grazing lands and natural forage resources thereof: Provided, however , That the natural forage resources therein shall be first utilized for the purpose of sustaining in a healthy condition a maximum of three thousand five hundred (3,500) antelope, the primary species, and such nonpredatory secondary species in such numbers as may be necessary to maintain a balanced wildlife population, but in no case shall the consumption of forage by the combined population of the wildlife species be allowed to increase the burden of the range dedicated to the primary species: Provided further , That all the forage resources within this range or preserve shall be available, except as herein otherwise provided with respect to wildlife, for domestic livestock under rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior under the authority of the aforesaid act of June 28, 1934, as amended: And provided further, That land within the exterior limits of the area herein described, acquired and to be acquired by the United States for the use of the Department of Agriculture for conservation of migratory birds and other wildlife, shall be and remain under the exclusive administration of the Secretary of Agriculture and may be utilized for public grazing purposes only to such extent as may be determined by the said Secretary to be compatible with the utilization of said lands for the purposes for which they were acquired as aforesaid under regulations prescribed by him .

Section 4. #sec-4

This preserve shall be known as the Charles Sheldon Antelope Range. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 21, 1936.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 7522 (Dec. 21, 1936), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7522-charles-sheldon-antelope-range-nevada.