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Executive Order 9653 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9653—Amending Schedules a and B of the Civil Service Rules

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Thursday, November 1, 1945
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5 min read (1,004 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 5 min read (1,004 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

Any person receiving from one department or establishment of the Government for his personal salary compensation aggregating not more than $648 per annum whose duties require only a portion of his time, or whose services are needed for very brief periods at intervals, provided that employment under this provision shall not be for job work such as contemplated in section 4 of rule VIII.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Foreign Nations & International Entities 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 Harry S Truman on November 1, 1945, this order concerns Amending Schedules a and B of the Civil Service Rules. By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 2 of the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403), Schedules A and B of the Civil Service Rules are hereby amended as follows: Paragraph 6, Subdivision I of Schedule A is amended to read: 6.

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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Any person receiving from one department or establishment of the Government for his personal salary compensation aggregating not more than $648 per annum whose duties require only a portion of his time, or whose services are needed for very brief periods at intervals, provided that employment under this provision shall not be for job work such as contemplated in section 4 of rule VIII.

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The name of the employee, designation, duties, rate of pay, and place of employment shall be shown in the periodical report of changes; and in addition, when payment is not at a per annum rate, the total service rendered and the distribution of such service during the year shall be shown in the report of changes at the end of each year or when the employee is separated from the service.

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Paragraph 8, Subdivision I of Schedule A is amended to read: 8.

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Paragraph 3, Subdivision VII of Schedule A is amended to read: 3.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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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
43 / 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

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

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

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%).
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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
1,004
6,101 characters
Estimated Read Time
5 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
13.8
College Level
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 2 of the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403), Schedules A and B of the Civil Service Rules are hereby amended as follows: Paragraph 6, Subdivision I of Schedule A is amended to read: 6. Any person receiving from one department or establishment of the Government for his personal salary compensation aggregating not more than $648 per annum whose duties require only a portion of his time, or whose services are needed for very brief periods at intervals, provided that employment under this provision shall not be for job work such as contemplated in section 4 of rule VIII. Appointments under this paragraph for duty in Washington, D.C., may be made only with the express prior approval of the Commission when in the opinion of the Commission the use of existing registers or the establishment of new registers is impracticable. The name of the employee, designation, duties, rate of pay, and place of employment shall be shown in the periodical report of changes; and in addition, when payment is not at a per annum rate, the total service rendered and the distribution of such service during the year shall be shown in the report of changes at the end of each year or when the employee is separated from the service. The additional employment under similar conditions of such a person by another department or establishment of the Government will be subject to the approval of the Commission. Paragraph 8, Subdivision I of Schedule A is amended to read: 8. Officers and employees in the Federal service on the Isthmus of Panama, except accountant, bookkeeper, clerk, draftsman, physician, play-ground director, statistician, stenographer, surgeon, trained nurse, typist, and harbor personnel in the Quartermaster Corps of the War Department. Appointments to clerical positions on the Isthmus of Panama paying $120 in United States currency per month or less may be made without examination. Paragraph 3, Subdivision VII of Schedule A is amended to read: 3. Clerks in fourth class post offices. Paragraph 7, Subdivision VII of Schedule A is amended to read: 7. Special delivery messengers in second, third, and fourth class post offices. Paragraph 8, Subdivision VII of Schedule A is amended to read: 8. Unskilled laborers employed as janitors and cleaners in small postal units in leased quarters at a compensation less than $1299 per annum. Paragraph 12, Subdivision VIII of Schedule A is amended to read: 12. Housekeepers in the Indian Service at a gross salary not in excess of $864 per annum. Paragraph 19, Subdivision VIII of Schedule A is amended to read: 19. Temporary seasonal field assistants in forestry and range management at salaries not to exceed a rate of $1,704 a year and for not to exceed 4 months in any 1 calendar year. Paragraph 4, Subdivision IX of Schedule A is amended to read: 4. Student assistants whose salaries shall not exceed a rate of $576 a year while employed. Only bona fide students at high schools or colleges of recognized standing shall be eligible for appointment under this paragraph. Appointments shall not exceed 6 months in any 1 calendar year, except in exceptionally meritorious cases, and then only upon prior approval of the Commission. Appointments under this paragraph shall be reported to the Commission in such form as the Commission may prescribe. Paragraph 26, Subdivision IX of Schedule A is amended to read: 26. Technical or professional consultants or advisors, at salary rates of $5,180 or more, employed for not to exceed 6 months in any 1 calendar year. Paragraph 27, Subdivision IX of Schedule A is amended to read: Temporary, seasonal field assistants in forestry and range management, at salaries not to exceed a rate of $1,704 a year, and for not to exceed 4 months in any 1 calendar year. Paragraph 28, Subdivision IX of Schedule A is amended to read: Temporary, seasonal clerical or custodial positions in the Field Service of the Department of Agriculture, at places other than Civil Service Regional headquarters, paying not to exceed a rate of $2,100 a year, for periods not to exceed 6 months in any 1 calendar year, whenever in the opinion of the Commission such positions cannot be filled from existing registers. Paragraph 4, Subdivision XI of Schedule A is amended to read: 4. Student assistants in the National Bureau of Standards whose salaries shall not exceed a rate of $576 a year each while employed. Only bona fide students at high schools or colleges of recognized standing pursuing technical or scientific courses shall be eligible for appointment under this paragraph. Appointments shall not exceed 6 months in any 1 calendar year, except in especially meritorious cases, and then only upon prior approval of the Commission. Appointments under this paragraph shall be reported to the Commission in such form as the Commission may prescribe. Paragraph 11, Subdivision XI of Schedule A is amended to read: 11. Agents to take and transmit meteorological observations in connection with airways, whose duties require only part of their time, and whose compensation does not exceed $120 a month. Paragraph 1, Subdivision VII of Schedule B is amended to read: 1. Specialists in foreign relations, political, economic, and financial, whose proposed compensation is $3,640 or more, and whose training and experience along the lines of their proposed duties meet the standard minimum qualifications set up in open competitive examinations for positions in the professional service for corresponding grades. Paragraph 4, Subdivision XI of Schedule B is amended to read: 4. Commodity Credit Corporation: Technical or professional consultants or advisors, at salary rates of $5,180 or more, for periods not to exceed 18 months. Paragraph 1, Subdivision XIII of Schedule B is amended to read: 1. National Training School for Boys: Assistants to cottage officers when filled by the appointment of bona fide students at colleges or universities at salaries not in excess of $648 per annum, subject to the approval of the Commission. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

November 1, 1945

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9653 (Nov. 1, 1945), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9653-amending-schedules-and-b-the-civil-service-rules.