Whereas section 4 of the act of Congress of June 22, 1936, entitled "An Act to provide a civil government for the Virgin Islands of the United States" (49 Stat. 1807, 1808), as amended by the act of August 7, 1939 (53 Stat. 1242), provides in part as follows: (c) No Federal laws levying tonnage duties, light money, or entrance and clearance fees shall apply to the Virgin Islands. (d) The Legislative Assembly of the Virgin Islands shall have power to enact navigation, boat inspection, and safety laws of local application; but the President shall have power to make applicable to the Virgin Islands such of the navigation, vessel inspection, and coastwise laws of the United States as he may find and declare to be necessary in the public interest, and, to the extent that the laws so made applicable conflict with any laws of local application enacted by the Legislative Assembly, such laws enacted by the Legislative Assembly shall have no force and effect. And Whereas I find that it is necessary in the public interest that certain navigation and vessel inspection laws of the United States be made applicable to the Virgin Islands, as hereafter stated: Now, Therefore , by virtue of the authority vested in me by the statutory provisions above set forth, it is ordered that all of the navigation land vessel inspection laws of the United States be, and they are hereby, made applicable to the Virgin Islands of the United States, with the following exceptions: (1) The coastwise laws of the United States. (2) The act of Congress approved June 7, 1897 (30 Stat. 96), as amended by the acts of February 19, 1900 (31 Stat. 30), May 25, 1914 (38 Stat. 381), March 1, 1933 (47 Stat. 1417), August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 668, 669), May 20, 1936 (49 Stat. 1367), and April 22, 1940 (54 Stat. 150). (3) So much of the vessel inspection laws of the United States as requires the inspection as a passenger vessel of any cargo vessel, foreign or domestic, when carrying more than twelve passengers or persons in addition to the crew. (4) Federal laws levying tonnage duties, light money, or entrance and clearance fees. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, May 21, 1942.
Executive Order 9170 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 1st Amend: Civil Liberties & Expressive Protections
Executive Order 9170—Making Certain Navigation Laws of the United States Applicable to the Virgin Islands
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (377 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
All of the navigation land vessel inspection laws of the United States be, and they are hereby, made applicable to the Virgin Islands of the United States, with the following exceptions: (1) The coastwise laws of the United States.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 1st Amend: Civil Liberties & Expressive Protections
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Private Citizens & Property Owners Foreign Nations & International Entities
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 May 21, 1942, this order concerns Making Certain Navigation Laws of the United States Applicable to the Virgin Islands. All of the navigation land vessel inspection laws of the United States be, and they are hereby, made applicable to the Virgin Islands of the United States, with the following exceptions: (1) The coastwise laws of the United States.
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
▪
All of the navigation land vessel inspection laws of the United States be, and they are hereby, made applicable to the Virgin Islands of the United States, with the following exceptions: (1) The coastwise laws of the United States.
▪
The act of Congress approved June 7, 1897 (30 Stat. 96), as amended by the acts of February 19, 1900 (31 Stat. 30), May 25, 1914 (38 Stat. 381), March 1, 1933 (47 Stat. 1417), August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 668, 669), May 20, 1936 (49 Stat. 1367), and April 22, 1940 (54 Stat. 150).
▪
So much of the vessel inspection laws of the United States as requires the inspection as a passenger vessel of any cargo vessel, foreign or domestic, when carrying more than twelve passengers or persons in addition to the crew.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
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
"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 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.
Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
📐
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
30 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8
Low Friction
Legislative Encroachment & Purse
Operates within delegated statutory execution without modifying legislative appropriations or taxing powers.
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
Moderate Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
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
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
377
2,166 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.3
High School
Text size:
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📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9170 (May 21, 1942), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9170-making-certain-navigation-laws-the-united-states-applicable-the.
