Whereas , the Director of Economic Stabilization found the report of May 24 and May 29, of the Emergency Board set up to consider the wage adjustment claims of the non-operating railway employees to be inconsistent with the stabilization program established under the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders issued thereunder, and directed that the claims be reconsidered in light of the opinion filed by him on June 30, 1942, and Whereas , the Emergency Board originally constituted to consider the claims of the non-operating railway employees has been dissolved and it is necessary to provide further machinery for adjusting these claims in accordance with the Act of October 2, 1942, and the stabilization program established thereunder, Now, Therefore , by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the Statutes, and particularly by the First War Powers Act, 1941, as President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, it is hereby ordered as follows: (1) There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to reconsider the claims for wage adjustments of the nonoperating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments which should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder, and in conformity with the opinion of the Economic Stabilization Director of June 30, 1943. In making its recommendations to me, the Board may give such consideration as it deems appropriate to the report filed with me on September 25, 1943, by the Emergency Board appointed to consider the claims for wage adjustments of the operating railway employees. (2) The parties before the Special Emergency Board shall be the same as those included within the recommendation of the Emergency Board which reported to me on May 24 and May 29 in this dispute. (3) The Special Emergency Board shall report to me on or before November 15, 1943. Copies of the report shall be filed at the same time with the Economic Stabilization Director, the National War Labor Board and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The recommendations of the Special Emergency Board in regard to proposed changes affecting wage and salary payments shall become effective fifteen days after the date of the filing of its report with me, unless and except to the extent the Economic Stabilization Director otherwise directs. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, October 16, 1943.
Executive Order 9388 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Executive Order 9388—Establishing a Special Emergency Board To Report on Claims for Wage Adjustments of Nonoperating Railway Employees
Executive Brief • At a Glance
⏱️ 2 min read (416 words) •
● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate
There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to reconsider the claims for wage adjustments of the nonoperating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments which should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder, and in conformity with the opinion of the Economic Stabilization Director of June 30, 1943.
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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 16, 1943, this order concerns Establishing a Special Emergency Board To Report on Claims for Wage Adjustments of Nonoperating Railway Employees. There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to reconsider the claims for wage adjustments of the nonoperating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments which should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder, and in conformity with the opinion of the…
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
▪
There is hereby established a Special Emergency Board of three members to be selected by me from the National Railway Labor Panel to reconsider the claims for wage adjustments of the nonoperating railway employees, and to recommend to me such wage adjustments which should be made, within the limitations of the Act of October 2, 1942, and the Executive Orders thereunder, and in conformity with the opinion of the Economic Stabilization Director of June 30, 1943.
▪
In making its recommendations to me, the Board may give such consideration as it deems appropriate to the report filed with me on September 25, 1943, by the Emergency Board appointed to consider the claims for wage adjustments of the operating railway employees.
▪
The parties before the Special Emergency Board shall be the same as those included within the recommendation of the Emergency Board which reported to me on May 24 and May 29 in this dispute.
▪
The Special Emergency Board shall report to me on or before November 15, 1943.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments
🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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
37 / 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
High Friction
Federalism & State Sovereignty
Creates friction with the Tenth Amendment by conditioning state grants, mandating local compliance, or preempting state police powers.
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
416
2,532 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
27.8
Post-Graduate Legal
Text size:
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📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
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📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9388 (Oct. 16, 1943), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9388-establishing-special-emergency-board-report-claims-for-wage.
