★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
🎲
Cite
Executive Order 8457 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service

Executive Order 8457—Authorizing Certain Employees of the General Accounting Office To Acquire a Classified Civil-Service Status

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Monday, June 17, 1940
•
1 min read (278 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 1 min read (278 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Those employees of the General Accounting Office not now paid from emergency funds who were appointed prior to July 1, 1935, without regard to the civil service laws and regulations under authority of the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1021, 1026), and the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 195), and whose continuance in the service until June 30, 1940, is authorized by Executive Order No. 8137 of May 17, 1939, may be further continued in the service and may acquire a competitive classified civil-service status upon recommendation by the Comptroller General: Provided , (1) that they have performed continuous satisfactory service since July 1, 1935; (2) that they…

View all 2 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §3: Administrative Management & Civil Service
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 June 17, 1940, this order concerns Authorizing Certain Employees of the General Accounting Office To Acquire a Classified Civil-Service Status. Those employees of the General Accounting Office not now paid from emergency funds who were appointed prior to July 1, 1935, without regard to the civil service laws and regulations under authority of the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1021, 1026), and the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 195), and whose continuance in the service until…

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

▪

Those employees of the General Accounting Office not now paid from emergency funds who were appointed prior to July 1, 1935, without regard to the civil service laws and regulations under authority of the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1021, 1026), and the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 195), and whose continuance in the service until June 30, 1940, is authorized by Executive Order No. 8137 of May 17, 1939, may be further continued in the service and may acquire a competitive classified civil-service status upon recommendation by the Comptroller General: Provided , (1) that they have performed continuous satisfactory service since July 1, 1935; (2) that they…

▪

All positions affected by this order shall be classified civil-service positions on and after this date, and vacancies occuring therein shall be filled only in accordance with the competitive civil-service requirements.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

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

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service
🏛️

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 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
55 / 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

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

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%).
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
278
1,673 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17.5
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 the authority vested in me by the provisions of paragraph Eighth of subdivision SECOND of section 2 of the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403, 404), it is hereby ordered that those employees of the General Accounting Office not now paid from emergency funds who were appointed prior to July 1, 1935, without regard to the civil service laws and regulations under authority of the Emergency Appropriation Act, fiscal year 1935, approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat. 1021, 1026), and the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933 (48 Stat. 195), and whose continuance in the service until June 30, 1940, is authorized by Executive Order No. 8137 of May 17, 1939, may be further continued in the service and may acquire a competitive classified civil-service status upon recommendation by the Comptroller General: Provided , (1) that they have performed continuous satisfactory service since July 1, 1935; (2) that they qualify in such appropriate noncompetitive tests of fitness as may be prescribed by the Civil Service Commission; (3) that they are citizens of the United States; and (4) that they are not disqualified by any provision of section 3 of Civil Service Rule V or of any other civil service rule, or by any provision of the Civil Service Act, or of any other statute or Executive Order. All employees affected by this order must meet its terms and conditions as of this date. All positions affected by this order shall be classified civil-service positions on and after this date, and vacancies occuring therein shall be filled only in accordance with the competitive civil-service requirements. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, June 17, 1940.

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 8457 (June 17, 1940), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8457-authorizing-certain-employees-the-general-accounting-office-acquire.