UTAH By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1 of the act of July 9, 1918, c. 143, 40 Stat. 845, 848 (U.S.C., title 10, sec. 1341), it is ordered that, subject to valid existing rights, all the public land within the following-described area be, and it is hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing and gunnery range: SALT LAKE MERIDIAN Beginning at the meander corner of sec. 36, T. 6 N.. R. 9 W., on the shore of Great Salt Lake; Thence west to the quarter-section corner of secs. 2 and 35, Ts. 5 and 6 N., R. 13 W.; Thence southerly to the corner of secs. 2, 3, 34 and 35, Ts. 3 and 4 N., R. 13 W.; Thence westerly to the northwest corner of T. 3 N., R. 14 W.; Thence southerly to the northeast corner of sec. 24, T. 1 S., R. 15 W.; Thence westerly along section lines to the corner of secs. 13, 18, 19 and 24, Ts. 1 S., Rs. 17 and 18 W.; Thence southerly between ranges 17 and 18 west, approximately 27 miles to the southwest corner of T. 5 S., R. 17 W.; Thence easterly to the northeast corner of T. 6 S., R. 17 W.; Thence southerly between ranges 16 and 17 west, approximately 30 miles to the southwest corner of T. 10 S., R. 16 W.; Thence east along the Second Standard Parallel South to the southeast corner of T. 10 S., R. 13 W.; Thence north to the corner of Ts. 8 and 9 S., Rs. 12 and 13 W.; Thence east to the corner of secs. 3, 4, 33 and 34, Ts. 8 and 9 S., R. 12 W.; Thence north along section lines to the corner of secs. 3, 4, 33 and 34, Ts. 7 and 8 S., R. 12 W.; Thence east to the southeast corner of T. 7 S., R. 12 W.; Thence northerly between ranges 11 and 12 west, approximately 60 miles to the northeast corner of T. 3 N., R. 12 W.; Thence easterly along township lines to the meander corner of sec. 4, T. 3 N., R. 9 W., on the shore of Great Salt Lake: Thence northeasterly along the shore of Great Salt Lake to the meander comer of sec. 36, T. 6 N., R. 9 W., and the place of beginning; containing approximately 1,560,000 acres. The withdrawal made by this order shall take precedence over, but shall not rescind or revoke, as to any of the land affected thereby in the above-described area, the withdrawals made by Executive Order No. 6910 of November 26, 1934, as amended, Executive Order of June 14, 1921, creating Public Water Reserve No. 78, Executive Order of February 19, 1926, creating Public Water Reserve No. 103, Utah No. 17, and Executive Order No. 4872 of May 3, 1928, for the maintenance of air-navigation facilities. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, October 29, 1940.
Executive Order 8579 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 8579—Withdrawal of Public Land for Use of the War Department as an Aerial Bombing and Gunnery Range
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 3 min read (516 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
Subject to valid existing rights, all the public land within the following-described area be, and it is hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing and gunnery range: SALT LAKE MERIDIAN Beginning at the meander corner of sec. 36, T. 6 N..
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ 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 October 29, 1940, this order concerns Withdrawal of Public Land for Use of the War Department as an Aerial Bombing and Gunnery Range. Subject to valid existing rights, all the public land within the following-described area be, and it is hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing and gunnery range: SALT LAKE MERIDIAN Beginning at the meander corner of sec. 36, T. 6 N..
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
▪
Subject to valid existing rights, all the public land within the following-described area be, and it is hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing and gunnery range: SALT LAKE MERIDIAN Beginning at the meander corner of sec. 36, T. 6 N..
▪
The withdrawal made by this order shall take precedence over, but shall not rescind or revoke, as to any of the land affected thereby in the above-described area, the withdrawals made by Executive Order No. 6910 of November 26, 1934, as amended, Executive Order of June 14, 1921, creating Public Water Reserve No. 78, Executive Order of February 19, 1926, creating Public Water Reserve No. 103, Utah No. 17, and Executive Order No. 4872 of May 3, 1928, for the maintenance of air-navigation facilities.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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.
⚖️✨ 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
"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)
Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.
Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
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
33 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Moderate Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
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
Low Friction
Executive Scope & Faithfulness
Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.
Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment
Low Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Confined strictly to internal federal jurisdiction, federal property, or direct military command.
Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments
Low Friction
Due Process & Individual Rights
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
Moderate Friction
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.
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
516
2,652 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
6.7
Grade 7
Text size:
Related Executive Orders
1 order cited directly in this text, plus related actions from this administration.
EO 6910 Nov 26, 1934
🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 6910—Withdrawal of Public Lands for Conservation
📜 10th Amend: Intergovernmental Federalism Cooperation
All of the vacant, unreserved and unappropriated public land in the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming be, and it hereby is, temporarily withdrawn from settlement, location, sale or…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 2m
EO 8580 Oct 29, 1940
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 8580—Extension of Trust Periods on Indian Lands Expiring During Calendar Year 1941
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
The periods of trust applying to any Indian lands, whether of a tribal or individual status, which, unless extended, will expire during the calendar year 1941, be, and they are hereby, extended for a further period of 25 years from the date on which any such trust would…
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 1m
EO 8578 Oct 29, 1940
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 8578—Withdrawal of Public Land for Use of the War Department as an Aerial Bombing and Gunnery Range
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Subject to valid existing rights, all the public land within the following-described area be, and it is hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public-land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Grade 6 • 2m
EO 8577 Oct 29, 1940
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 8577—Withdrawing Public Land For Use of the War Department
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
The following-described public land at Kotzebue, Alaska, be, and it is hereby, temporarily withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry, and reserved for the use of the War Department as a radio-station site: Beginning at corner No. 1, from which corner No. 7, U.S.…
Franklin D. Roosevelt Grade 5 • 1m
EO 8576 Oct 29, 1940
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 8576—Labor Regulations
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the employment of unclassified laborers in the executive civil service of the United States: REGULATION I—APPLICABILITY OF REGULATIONS SECTION 1.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Post-Graduate Legal • 11m
EO 8582 Oct 31, 1940
⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight) Constitutional Neutral
Executive Order 8582—Exemption of Hervey G. Mooney From Compulsory Retirement for Age
📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations
I hereby exempt the said Hervey G. Mooney from compulsory retirement for age for a period of one year ending October 31, 1941.
Franklin D. Roosevelt High School • 1m
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 8579 (Oct. 29, 1940), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8579-withdrawal-public-land-for-use-the-war-department-aerial-bombing-and.
