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Executive Order 9485 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9485—Relinquishing Possession of the Plant and Facilities of Remington Rand Inc. in the Town of Southport, County of Chemung, State of New York

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt
•
Friday, September 29, 1944
•
1 min read (243 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 1 min read (243 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby direct the Secretary of the Navy to relinquish, as of the close of business on September 30, 1944, the possession of the said plant taken pursuant to the said Executive Order No. 9399 of November 25, 1943, and to issue the necessary orders to carry out this direction.

View all 1 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
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 September 29, 1944, this order concerns Relinquishing Possession of the Plant and Facilities of Remington Rand Inc. in the Town of Southport, County of Chemung, State of New York. I hereby direct the Secretary of the Navy to relinquish, as of the close of business on September 30, 1944, the possession of the said plant taken pursuant to the said Executive Order No. 9399 of November 25, 1943, and to issue the necessary orders to carry out this direction.

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

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I hereby direct the Secretary of the Navy to relinquish, as of the close of business on September 30, 1944, the possession of the said plant taken pursuant to the said Executive Order No. 9399 of November 25, 1943, and to issue the necessary orders to carry out this direction.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ National Security & Defense
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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

"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
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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
34 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Low Friction

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

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

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%).
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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
243
1,392 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
18.9
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas by Executive Order No. 9399, dated November 25, 1943, the Secretary of the Navy was authorized and directed to take possession of and operate that part of the plant of Remington Rand Inc. known as the \"N\" Division of the Elmira plant of said company located in the Town of Southport, County of Chemung, State of New York, in order to produce essential war materials and to do all things necessary and incidental to that end; and Whereas , pursuant to the said executive order, the Secretary of the Navy took possession of the said plant on November 25, 1943, and has retained possession since that date; and Whereas the United States and Remington Rand Inc. have entered into contractural relations whereby the said plant may be occupied, used, and operated by the United States, its agents or contractors; and Whereas it now appears, and I have determined, that the said plant will be operated in a manner consistent with the war effort: Now, Therefore , by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, I hereby direct the Secretary of the Navy to relinquish, as of the close of business on September 30, 1944, the possession of the said plant taken pursuant to the said Executive Order No. 9399 of November 25, 1943, and to issue the necessary orders to carry out this direction. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, September 29, 1944.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9485 (Sept. 29, 1944), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9485-relinquishing-possession-the-plant-and-facilities-remington-rand-inc.