Whereas section 92 of title 2 of the Canal Zone Code, approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1122), provides in part: "All employees to whom this article applies shall, after reaching the age of sixty-two years and having rendered at least fifteen years of service on the Isthmus of Panama, be automatically separated from the service and retired on the annuity provided for herein; and all salary, pay, or compensation shall cease from that date. On and after July 1, 1932, no employee to whom this article applies who shall have reached the retirement age prescribed for automatic separation from the service, shall be continued in such service, notwithstanding any provision of law or regulation to the contrary: Provided , That the President may, by Executive order, exempt from the provisions of this paragraph any person when, in his judgment, the public interest so requires: * * *"; And Whereas the public interest requires that Joseph J. McGuigan, District Attorney for the Canal Zone, who, on March 17, 1938, will reach the retirement age prescribed for automatic separation from the service, be exempted from the provisions of this section and continued in the service until May 17, 1939, and thereafter until his successor is appointed and qualified: Now, Therefore , by virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the aforesaid section, I do hereby exempt Joseph J. McGuigan from the provisions thereof and continue him in the service until May 17, 1939, and thereafter until his successor is appointed and qualified. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT The White House, January 11, 1938.
Executive Order 7788—Exemption of Joseph J. McGuigan From Compulsory Retirement for Age
Executive Brief • At a Glance
Exempt Joseph J. McGuigan from the provisions thereof and continue him in the service until May 17, 1939, and thereafter until his successor is appointed and qualified.
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 January 11, 1938, this order concerns Exemption of Joseph J. McGuigan From Compulsory Retirement for Age. Exempt Joseph J. McGuigan from the provisions thereof and continue him in the service until May 17, 1939, and thereafter until his successor is appointed and qualified.
Key Directives & Operative Actions
Exempt Joseph J. McGuigan from the provisions thereof and continue him in the service until May 17, 1939, and thereafter until his successor is appointed and qualified.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
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.
"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."
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.
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.
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.
Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions
An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Confined strictly to internal federal jurisdiction, federal property, or direct military command.
Due Process & Individual Rights
Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.
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.
This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 7788 (Jan. 11, 1938), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7788-exemption-joseph-j-mcguigan-from-compulsory-retirement-for-age.