Executive Order 7985 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 7985—Establishing an Airspace Reservation Over Certain Areas in Maryland

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Saturday, October 8, 1938

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1 min read (265 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1938-10-08, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Establishing an Airspace Reservation Over Certain Areas in Maryland." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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 Secretary of War and the Civil Aeronautics Authority shall designate in their Department and office, respectively, the agencies which, under their direction, shall execute the provisions of this order.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Total Words

265

1,590 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

13.7

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 7985, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Oct 8, 1938). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-7985-establishing-airspace-reservation-over-certain-areas-maryland.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 4 of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 (44 Stat. 568, 570), the air space over the inclosed areas shown upon the map A. P. G. 7310 P. R. dated February 24, 1938 (a copy of which is on file in the Division of the Federal Register, The National Archives, Washington, D.C.), at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, which areas include the Aberdeen Proving Ground, portions of the Fort Hoyle and the Edgewood Arsenal Military Reservations, and portions of Bush River, Gunpowder River, and Chesapeake Bay, all in the State of Maryland, is hereby reserved and set apart for national-defense purposes: Provided, however , that when the areas marked "Section No. 1" and "Section No. 2" on the said map are not being used or immediately required for national-defense purposes, they may be released by the Secretary of War to the Civil Aeronautics Authority for the crossing by such civil aircraft as may be mutually agreed upon. The Secretary of War and the Civil Aeronautics Authority shall designate in their Department and office, respectively, the agencies which, under their direction, shall execute the provisions of this order. Persons operating aircraft within this airspace reservation 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 that act. This order supersedes Executive Order No. 5211 of October 19, 1929, establishing an airspace reservation over certain areas in the State of Maryland. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, October 8, 1938.