Executive Order 10282 Constitutional Friction / Overreach (-0.19)

Executive Order 10282—Suspension of the Eight-Hour Law as to Laborers and Mechanics Employed by the Department of the Interior on Public Work Essential to the National Defense

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Wednesday, August 29, 1951

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2 min read (418 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President Harry S Truman on 1951-08-29, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Suspension of the Eight-Hour Law as to Laborers and Mechanics Employed by the Department of the Interior on Public Work Essential to the National Defense." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

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

▪ 2914 of December 16, 1950, I proclaimed the existence of a national emergency which requires that the military, naval, air, and civilian defenses of this country be strengthened as speedily as possible; and WHEREAS by section 1 of the act of August 1, 1892, 27 Stat.

▪ 340, as amended by the act of March 3, 1913, 37 Stat.

▪ 9368 of August 9, 1943, extending the provisions of the aforesaid order to certain public work within the Territory of Alaska, are hereby superseded; but nothing contained in this order shall prejudice any action heretofore taken under or pursuant to the said Executive Order No.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Total Words

418

2,383 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

19.9

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

-0.19

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10282, Harry S Truman (Aug 29, 1951). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10282-suspension-the-eight-hour-law-laborers-and-mechanics-employed-the.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

WHEREAS by Proclamation No. 2914 of December 16, 1950, I proclaimed the existence of a national emergency which requires that the military, naval, air, and civilian defenses of this country be strengthened as speedily as possible; and WHEREAS by section 1 of the act of August 1, 1892, 27 Stat. 340, as amended by the act of March 3, 1913, 37 Stat. 726 (40 U.S.C. 321), the service or employment of all laborers and mechanics employed by the Government of the United States upon any public work of the United States is limited to eight hours in any one calendar day, except in case of extraordinary emergency; and WHEREAS the Department of the Interior is engaged in public work which is essential to the defense program; and WHEREAS I find that as to such public work being performed by the Department of the Interior an extraordinary emergency exists: NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1 of the said act of August 1, 1892, as amended by the said act of March 3, 1913, and as President of the United States, I hereby suspend for the duration of the national emergency proclaimed by me on December 16, 1950, the abovementioned provisions of law prohibiting more than eight hours of labor in any one calendar day by laborers and mechanics employed by the Government of the United States as to all work performed by laborers and mechanics employed by the Department of the Interior on any public work which is designated by the Secretary of the Interior as essential to the defense program: Provided, that the wages of all laborers and mechanics so employed by the Department of the Interior shall be computed on a basic day rate of eight hours of work with overtime to be paid at time and onehalf for all hours of work in excess of eight hours in any one day. Executive Order No. 9360 of July 7, 1943, entitled "Suspension of EightHour Law as to Laborers and Mechanics Employed by the Department of the Interior on Public Works within the United States", and Executive Order No. 9368 of August 9, 1943, extending the provisions of the aforesaid order to certain public work within the Territory of Alaska, are hereby superseded; but nothing contained in this order shall prejudice any action heretofore taken under or pursuant to the said Executive Order No. 9360 or the said Executive Order No. 9368. HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, August 29, 1951.