Executive Order 12343 Constitutional Fidelity (+0.33)

Executive Order 12343—Designation of Certain Officers To Act as Secretary of State

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Wednesday, January 27, 1982

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1 min read (252 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 Ronald Reagan on 1982-01-27, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Designation of Certain Officers To Act as Secretary of State." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

Constitutional Assessment: Reviewed under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of dual federalism, this order touches upon domains traditionally reserved to the sovereign States. The Framers would caution against any attempt to commandeer state officers or displace local police powers through federal executive fiat.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪ If no such order of succession is in effect at that time, then such officers shall act as Secretary in descending order of rank, as established by the listing of their offices in Sections 5314 or 5315 of Title 5 of the United States Code, and at each level of the Executive Schedule in the order in which they shall have taken the oath as such officers.

▪ The President may at any time, pursuant to law but without regard to the foregoing provisions of this Order, direct that an officer specified by the President shall act as Secretary of State.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants

Total Words

252

1,390 characters

Estimated Read Time

1 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

13.9

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.33

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12343, Ronald Reagan (Jan 27, 1982). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12343-designation-certain-officers-act-secretary-state.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America by Section 3347 of Title 5 and Section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. During any period when, by reason of absence, disability, or vacancy in office, neither the Secretary of State nor the Deputy Secretary of State, is available to exercise the powers or perform the duties of the Office of the Secretary, an officer from the Department of State who has been appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, in such order as the Secretary of State may from time to time prescribe, shall act as Secretary. If no such order of succession is in effect at that time, then such officers shall act as Secretary in descending order of rank, as established by the listing of their offices in Sections 5314 or 5315 of Title 5 of the United States Code, and at each level of the Executive Schedule in the order in which they shall have taken the oath as such officers. Sec. 2. The President may at any time, pursuant to law but without regard to the foregoing provisions of this Order, direct that an officer specified by the President shall act as Secretary of State. Sec. 3. Executive Order No. 10839 is revoked. RONALD REAGAN The White House, January 27, 1982. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:34 a.m., January 28, 1982]