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Executive Order 9817 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 9817—Regulations Governing Awards to Federal Employees for Metitorious Suggestions and for Exceptional or Meritorius Service

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Tuesday, December 31, 1946
•
3 min read (679 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (679 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby prescribe the following rules and regulations governing the payment of awards for meritorious suggestions of civilian officers and employees for the incurring of expenses for honorary recognition of exceptional or meritorious service: Section 1.

View all 4 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 Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners
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 31, 1946, this order concerns Regulations Governing Awards to Federal Employees for Metitorious Suggestions and for Exceptional or Meritorius Service. I hereby prescribe the following rules and regulations governing the payment of awards for meritorious suggestions of civilian officers and employees for the incurring of expenses for honorary recognition of exceptional or meritorious service: Section 1.

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 prescribe the following rules and regulations governing the payment of awards for meritorious suggestions of civilian officers and employees for the incurring of expenses for honorary recognition of exceptional or meritorious service: Section 1.

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Any civilian officer or employee of a department (as the word "department" is defined in section 18 of the said act of August 2, 1946) who makes a suggestion, in such form and manner as his department shall require, which is adopted for use in the department on or after August 2, 1946, and, in the judgment of the department head or other duly authorized authority in the department, has resulted or will result in improvement or economy in the operation of the department by way of monetary savings, increased efficiency [sic], conservation of property, improved employee-working conditions, better service to the public, or otherwise, shall be eligible for consideration of a cash award.

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A former civilian officer or employee (or his estate) shall be similarly eligible for awards for such suggestions made while in the service of the department.

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Whenever a suggestion is determined to be meritorious and is adopted solely or primarily because it will result or has resulted in the saving of money, the amount of the award shall be based on the amount of the annual estimated savings in the first year of operation in accordance with the following table, unless for special reasons the head of the department shall determine, subject to the limitations prescribed in the said act, that a different amount is justified: Sec. 3.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Economy & Finance
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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
38 / 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

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

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%).
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
679
4,047 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
21.2
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (10 sections)
Sec. 1Sec. 2Sec. 3Sec. 4Sec. 5Sec. 6Sec. 7Sec. 8Sec. 9Sec. 10

By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by section 14 of the act of August 2, 1946 (Public Law 600, 79th Congress), I hereby prescribe the following rules and regulations governing the payment of awards for meritorious suggestions of civilian officers and employees for the incurring of expenses for honorary recognition of exceptional or meritorious service:

Section 1. #sec-1

Any civilian officer or employee of a department (as the word "department" is defined in section 18 of the said act of August 2, 1946) who makes a suggestion, in such form and manner as his department shall require, which is adopted for use in the department on or after August 2, 1946, and, in the judgment of the department head or other duly authorized authority in the department, has resulted or will result in improvement or economy in the operation of the department by way of monetary savings, increased efficiency [sic], conservation of property, improved employee-working conditions, better service to the public, or otherwise, shall be eligible for consideration of a cash award. A former civilian officer or employee (or his estate) shall be similarly eligible for awards for such suggestions made while in the service of the department.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Whenever a suggestion is determined to be meritorious and is adopted solely or primarily because it will result or has resulted in the saving of money, the amount of the award shall be based on the amount of the annual estimated savings in the first year of operation in accordance with the following table, unless for special reasons the head of the department shall determine, subject to the limitations prescribed in the said act, that a different amount is justified:

Sec. 3. #sec-3

When a suggestion is adopted primarily upon the basis of improvement in the operations and services of the department, the department shall determine the amount of the award commensurate with the benefits anticipated from the suggestion. Whenever the head of a department believes that a suggestion he has adopted would benefit the Government service generally, he may report it to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget for dissemination to all departments.

Sec. 4. #sec-4

At the end of each fiscal year each department shall report to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget the number of employee suggestions submitted, the number of such suggestions adopted, the total amount of cash awards, and the total amount of estimated annual savings.

Sec. 5. #sec-5

A department may provide for the purchase and award of appropriate certificates, medals, or other emblems, in honorary recognition of service which is determined by the head of the department to be exceptional or meritorious.

Sec. 6. #sec-6

No award shall be paid for any suggestion which is not adopted for use within five years from the date the suggestion is received by the department. Any department may, in its discretion, change the designated period of five years to a less period of time.

Sec. 7. #sec-7

No award shall be paid to any officer or employee for any suggestion which represents a part of the normal requirement of the duties of his position.

Sec. 8. #sec-8

The total of cash awards paid during any fiscal year in any department (except the War and Navy Departments) shall not exceed $25,000. Cash awards and expenses for honorary recognition for exceptional or meritorious service may be paid from the appropriation for the activity primarily benefiting or may be distributed among appropriations for activities benefiting as the head of the department determines.

Sec. 9. #sec-9

A cash award shall be in addition to the regular compensation of the recipient, and the acceptance of such cash award shall constitute an agreement that the use by the United States of the suggestion for which the award is made shall not form the basis of a further claim of any nature upon the United States by him, his heirs, or assigns.

Sec. 10. #sec-10

This order shall be effective as of August 2, 1946, and shall be published in the Federal Register. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

December 31, 1946

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9817 (Dec. 31, 1946), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9817-regulations-governing-awards-federal-employees-for-metitorious.