★
Executive Orders Historical Archive
Cite
Executive Order 8646 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §1: Executive Discretion & Internal Operations

Executive Order 8646—Establishing the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge

•
Wednesday, January 22, 1941
•
4 min read (715 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 4 min read (715 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Subject to valid existing rights, the following-described public lands, comprising 57,215.48 acres, more or less, in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry, and reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of the Interior for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources: New Mexico Principal Meridian T. 17 8., R. 3 E., sec. 13, S½; sec. 14, S½; sec. 15, SE¼; sec. 22, E½; secs. 23 to 26. inclusive; sec. 27, E½; sec. 34, E½; secs. 35 and 36; T. 18 S., R. 3 E., sec. 1; sec. 2, lots 1 and 2, S½NE¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 12, NE¼, N½NW¼, SE¼NW¼, E½SW¼, and SE¼; sec. 13, NE¼, E½W½, and SE¼; sec. 24, NE¼, E½NW¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 25, E½E½; sec. 36, E½NE¼; T. 17 S., R. 4 E.…

⚖️ 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 January 22, 1941, this order concerns Establishing the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge. Subject to valid existing rights, the following-described public lands, comprising 57,215.48 acres, more or less, in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry, and reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of the Interior for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources: New Mexico Principal Meridian T. 17 8., R. 3 E., sec. 13, S½; sec.…

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

▪

Subject to valid existing rights, the following-described public lands, comprising 57,215.48 acres, more or less, in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry, and reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of the Interior for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources: New Mexico Principal Meridian T. 17 8., R. 3 E., sec. 13, S½; sec. 14, S½; sec. 15, SE¼; sec. 22, E½; secs. 23 to 26. inclusive; sec. 27, E½; sec. 34, E½; secs. 35 and 36; T. 18 S., R. 3 E., sec. 1; sec. 2, lots 1 and 2, S½NE¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 12, NE¼, N½NW¼, SE¼NW¼, E½SW¼, and SE¼; sec. 13, NE¼, E½W½, and SE¼; sec. 24, NE¼, E½NW¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 25, E½E½; sec. 36, E½NE¼; T. 17 S., R. 4 E.…

▪

It is unlawful for any person to pursue, hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird or wild animal of any kind whatsoever within the limits of this refuge, or to enter thereon except under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

▪

Such of the above-described lands as are located within the Jornada Experimental Range, established by Executive Orders No. 1526 of May 3, 1912, No. 2368 of April 24, 1916, and No. 4266 of July 10, 1925, shall remain subject to the unhampered use of the Department of Agriculture for range research purposes, and nothing in this order shall be construed as affecting or restricting the authority over such lands for purposes of range research now vested in the Secretary of Agriculture.

▪

The administration, use, occupancy, and protection of the said lands within the Jornada Experimental Range for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources shall be in accordance with such general plans as may be approved jointly by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior.

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)
§

"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
33 / 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

Low Friction

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

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%).
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
715
3,776 characters
Estimated Read Time
4 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
4.4
Grade 4
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (4 sections)

NEW MEXICO By virtue of the authority vested in me by the act of June 25, 1910, c. 421, 36 Stat. 847, as amended by the act of August 24, 1912, c. 369, 37 Stat. 497, it is ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Subject to valid existing rights, the following-described public lands, comprising 57,215.48 acres, more or less, in Dona Ana County, New Mexico, are hereby withdrawn from settlement, location, sale, or entry, and reserved and set apart for the use of the Department of the Interior for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources: New Mexico Principal Meridian T. 17 8., R. 3 E., sec. 13, S½; sec. 14, S½; sec. 15, SE¼; sec. 22, E½; secs. 23 to 26. inclusive; sec. 27, E½; sec. 34, E½; secs. 35 and 36; T. 18 S., R. 3 E., sec. 1; sec. 2, lots 1 and 2, S½NE¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 12, NE¼, N½NW¼, SE¼NW¼, E½SW¼, and SE¼; sec. 13, NE¼, E½W½, and SE¼; sec. 24, NE¼, E½NW¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 25, E½E½; sec. 36, E½NE¼; T. 17 S., R. 4 E., sec. 15, S½; sec. 17, S½; sec. 18, lots 3 and 4, E½SW¼ and SE¼; secs. 19 to 22, inclusive; secs. 27 to 31, inclusive: secs. 33 and 34; T. 18 S., R. 4 E., secs. 3 to 10, inclusive; sec. 15; sec. 17, N½, N½SW¼, and S½SE¼; secs. 18 to 21, inclusive; sec. 22, N½, W½SW¼, and SE¼; sec. 27, N½, SW¼, NE¼SE¼, and S½SE¼; secs. 28, 29, and 30; sec. 31, lots 1 and 2, NE¼, E½NW¼, and E½SE¼; secs. 32, 33, and 34; T. 19 S., R. 4 E., sec. 1; secs. 3 and 4; sec. 5, lots 1 to 4, inclusive, S½N½, and SE¼; sec. 6, lot 1; sec. 8, E½; secs. 9 to 15, inclusive; sec. 16, W½; sec. 17, E½; sec. 20, E½; secs. 21 to 26, inclusive; sec. 27, NE'/4, N½NW¼, SE¼NW¼, NE¼SW¼, SW¼SW¼, and SE¼; sec. 28, N½NE¼, W½, and SE¼; sec. 29, N½NE%, SE¼NE¼, and E½SE¼; sec. 32, E½E½; secs. 33, 34, and 35; T. 20 S., R. 4 E., sec. 1; secs. 3 and 4; sec. 5, lot 1 and SE¼NE¼; sec. 9, NE¼, E½W½, and SE¼; secs. 10 and 11; sec. 12, NE¼, N½NW¼, SE¼NW¼, and S½; secs. 13, 14, and 15; sec. 16, NE¼, E½W½, and SE¼; sec. 21, N½ and N½S½; sec. 22, N½ and N½S½; secs. 23 to 26, inclusive; T. 20 S., R. 5 E., sec. 7, lots 3 and 4, E½SW¼, and SE¼; secs. 18 and 19; sec. 30, lots 1, 2, 3, and 4, NE¼, E½NW¼, NE¼SW¼, and NW¼SE¼. It is unlawful for any person to pursue, hunt, trap, capture, willfully disturb, or kill any bird or wild animal of any kind whatsoever within the limits of this refuge, or to enter thereon except under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior.

Section 2. #sec-2

Such of the above-described lands as are located within the Jornada Experimental Range, established by Executive Orders No. 1526 of May 3, 1912, No. 2368 of April 24, 1916, and No. 4266 of July 10, 1925, shall remain subject to the unhampered use of the Department of Agriculture for range research purposes, and nothing in this order shall be construed as affecting or restricting the authority over such lands for purposes of range research now vested in the Secretary of Agriculture. The administration, use, occupancy, and protection of the said lands within the Jornada Experimental Range for the conservation and development of natural wildlife resources shall be in accordance with such general plans as may be approved jointly by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior.

Section 3. #sec-3

The reservation of that part of the above-described lands lying within New Mexico Grazing District No. 4, duly established pursuant to the provisions of the act of June 28, 1934, 48 Stat. 1269, as amended by the act of June 26, 1936, 49 Stat. 1976, shall be subject to the terms and provisions of the said act of June 28, 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto.

Section 4. #sec-4

This reservation shall be known as the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, January 22, 1941.

📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8646 (Jan. 22, 1941), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8646-establishing-the-san-andres-national-wildlife-refuge.