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Executive Order 9814 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 9814—Establishing An Amnesty Board to Review Convictions of Persons Under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and to Make Recommendations for Executive Clemency With Respect Thereto

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Monday, December 23, 1946
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2 min read (365 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 2 min read (365 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

There is hereby established a board of three members, which shall be known as the President's Amnesty Board.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 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 Harry S Truman on December 23, 1946, this order concerns Establishing An Amnesty Board to Review Convictions of Persons Under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 and to Make Recommendations for Executive Clemency With Respect Thereto. There is hereby established a board of three members, which shall be known as the President's Amnesty Board. The members of the Board shall be appointed by the President, who shall also designate its chairman. 2.

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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There is hereby established a board of three members, which shall be known as the President's Amnesty Board.

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The members of the Board shall be appointed by the President, who shall also designate its chairman. 2.

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The Board, under such regulations as it may prescribe, shall examine and consider the cases of all persons convicted of violation of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended (50 U. S. C. App. 301 ff.), or of any rule or regulation prescribed under or pursuant to the Act, or convicted of a conspiracy to violate that Act or any rule or regulation prescribed under or pursuant thereto.

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In any case in which it deems it desirable to do so, the Board shall make a report to the Attorney General which shall include its findings and its recommendations as to whether Executive clemency should be granted or denied, and, in any case in which it recommends that Executive clemency be granted, its recommendations with respect to the form that such clemency should take.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Government Operations & Civil Service
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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 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
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: Supportive of Execution
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
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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
40 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

High Friction

Touches upon core congressional prerogatives: raises appropriations reallocation, tariff imposition, or statutory preemption questions.

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

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

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ 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
365
2,161 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
16.7
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.33
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
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Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States by section 2of Article II of the Constitution of the Untied States, which provides that "The President * * * shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for the offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment, " and in the interest of the internal management of the Government, it is ordered as follows: 1. There is hereby established a board of three members, which shall be known as the President's Amnesty Board. The members of the Board shall be appointed by the President, who shall also designate its chairman. 2. The Board, under such regulations as it may prescribe, shall examine and consider the cases of all persons convicted of violation of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended (50 U. S. C. App. 301 ff.), or of any rule or regulation prescribed under or pursuant to the Act, or convicted of a conspiracy to violate that Act or any rule or regulation prescribed under or pursuant thereto. In any case in which it deems it desirable to do so, the Board shall make a report to the Attorney General which shall include its findings and its recommendations as to whether Executive clemency should be granted or denied, and, in any case in which it recommends that Executive clemency be granted, its recommendations with respect to the form that such clemency should take. The Attorney General shall report the findings and recommendations of the Board to the President, with such further recommendations as he may desire to make. 3. The members of the Board shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties under this order. 4. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Board in its work, and to furnish the Board all appropriate information and assistance. 5. The Board shall cease to exist, unless otherwise provided by further Executive order, upon the submission of its final recommendations to the President by the Attorney General. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 23, 1946

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9814 (Dec. 23, 1946), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9814-establishing-amnesty-board-review-convictions-persons-under-the.