Executive Order 12179 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 12179—Holiday for Federal Employees

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Tuesday, December 11, 1979

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1 min read (171 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 Jimmy Carter on 1979-12-11, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Holiday for Federal Employees." It is a direct, concise executive instruction delivering focused administrative or military commands to department leadership.

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

▪ All Executive departments and agencies shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 1979, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided by Section 1-102 below.

▪ Monday, December 24, 1979, shall be considered a holiday for the purposes of the pay and leave of employees of the United States.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

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

Total Words

171

1,055 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

12.6

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12179, Jimmy Carter (Dec 11, 1979). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12179-holiday-for-federal-employees.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

PROVIDING FOR THE CLOSING OF GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1979 By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows: SECTION 1-1. General Provisions. 1-101. All Executive departments and agencies shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 1979, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided by Section 1-102 below. 1-102. The heads of Executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 1979, for reasons of national security or defense or for other public reasons. SECTION 1-2. Pay and leave for Employees. 1-201. Monday, December 24, 1979, shall be considered a holiday for the purposes of the pay and leave of employees of the United States. JIMMY CARTER The White House, December 11, 1979. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12: 11 p.m., December 11, 1979]