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Executive Order 9820 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 9820—Segregation of the Function of the Housing Expediter From the Functions of the National Housing Administrator

Harry S Truman Harry S Truman
•
Saturday, January 11, 1947
•
3 min read (690 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (690 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

All the powers, functions, and duties of the housing Expediter under the Veteran's Emergency Housing Act of 1946 which were merged with the powers, functions, and duties of the National Housing Administrator and exercised and performed through the Office of the Administrator, National Housing Agency, are hereby segregated and shall be exercised and performed by the Housing Expediter as an independent officer of the Government. 2.

View all 4 directives ↓
⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
Framers' constitutional debate ↓
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises
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 January 11, 1947, this order concerns Segregation of the Function of the Housing Expediter From the Functions of the National Housing Administrator. In the interest of the internal management of the Government, as follows: 1. All the powers, functions, and duties of the housing Expediter under the Veteran's Emergency Housing Act of 1946 which were merged with the powers, functions, and duties of the National Housing Administrator and exercised and performed through the Office of the Administrator, National Housing Agency, are hereby segregated and shall be…

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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All the powers, functions, and duties of the housing Expediter under the Veteran's Emergency Housing Act of 1946 which were merged with the powers, functions, and duties of the National Housing Administrator and exercised and performed through the Office of the Administrator, National Housing Agency, are hereby segregated and shall be exercised and performed by the Housing Expediter as an independent officer of the Government. 2.

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All personnel (as determined by joint certification by the Housing Expediter and the National Housing Administrator) appointed or transferred to positions which were required for the functions, and duties of the Housing Expediter, as segregated by paragraph 1 of this order, are hereby transferred to the Office of the Housing Expediter for the exercise and performance of the powers, functions, and duties by the Housing Expediter as an independent officer of the Government: Provided, That with respect to the heads of offices and branches and special assistants in positions allocated to grade P-8 or grad CAF-15 who are engaged in the administration of functions of both the Housing Expediter and the National Housing Administrator, the…

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The joint certifications required by this section shall be made within 30 days of the date of this order. 3.

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All assets contracts, and property including office equipment and records used or held in the administration, exercise, or performance of the powers, functions, and duties of the Housing Expediter, as segregated by paragraph1 of this order, are hereby transferred to the Office of the Housing Expediter. 4.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises

Policy Areas & Topics

🏷️ Housing 🏷️ Economy & Finance 🏷️ 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

"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: Defends Vigor & Dispatch
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
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
690
4,367 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
29.7
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

Whereas an existing official of the Government, namely, the National Housing Administrator, was appointed initially to serve as Housing Expediter within the National Housing Agency; and Whereas the powers, functions and duties of the Housing Expediter under the Veterans' Emergency Housing Act of 1946 (approved May 22, 1946) were merged with the powers, functions, and duties vested in the National Housing Administrator by Executive Order No. 9070 of February 24, 1942, the Lanham Act of October 14, 1490, and other statues, and have been exercised and performed through the Office of the Administrator, National Housing Agency; and Whereas the Housing Expediter was recently appointed as an independent officer of the Government, and it is necessary that his powers, functions, and duties be segregated so that they may be properly exercised and performed by him: Now, Therefore, by virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by the said Veterans' Emergency Housing Act of 1946, and as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered, in the interest of the internal management of the Government, as follows: 1. All the powers, functions, and duties of the housing Expediter under the Veteran's Emergency Housing Act of 1946 which were merged with the powers, functions, and duties of the National Housing Administrator and exercised and performed through the Office of the Administrator, National Housing Agency, are hereby segregated and shall be exercised and performed by the Housing Expediter as an independent officer of the Government. 2. All personnel (as determined by joint certification by the Housing Expediter and the National Housing Administrator) appointed or transferred to positions which were required for the functions, and duties of the Housing Expediter, as segregated by paragraph 1 of this order, are hereby transferred to the Office of the Housing Expediter for the exercise and performance of the powers, functions, and duties by the Housing Expediter as an independent officer of the Government: Provided, That with respect to the heads of offices and branches and special assistants in positions allocated to grade P-8 or grad CAF-15 who are engaged in the administration of functions of both the Housing Expediter and the National Housing Administrator, the transfer of any such personnel to the Office of the Housing Expediter or their retention in the Office of the National Housing Administrator shall be determined by joint certification by such Expediter and such Administrator. The joint certifications required by this section shall be made within 30 days of the date of this order. 3. All assets contracts, and property including office equipment and records used or held in the administration, exercise, or performance of the powers, functions, and duties of the Housing Expediter, as segregated by paragraph1 of this order, are hereby transferred to the Office of the Housing Expediter. 4. So much of the unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations, allocations, or other funds available to the Office of the Administrator, National Housing Agency, for use in connection with the administration, exercise, or performance of the powers, functions, and duties of the Housing Expediter (as segregated by section 1 of this order) as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine shall be transferred to the Office of the Housing Expediter for use in connection with the said powers, functions, and duties. In determining the amount of funds to be transferred, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may include an amount to provide for the liquidation of obligations incurred against such appropriations, authorizations, allocations, or other funds prior to transfer. 5. All unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations, allocations, or other funds transferred under this order shall be used only for the respective purposes and in the administration of the respective functions for which such funds were made available. 6. Such further measures and dispositions as may be determined by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget to be necessary to effectuate the purposes and provisions of this order shall be carried out in such manner as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget may direct and by such agencies as he may designate. HARRY S. TRUMAN

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

January 11, 1947

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Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 9820 (Jan. 11, 1947), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9820-segregation-the-function-the-housing-expediter-from-the-functions-the.