Executive Order 12500 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 12500—Delegation to the Secretary of State and the Director of the International Development Cooperation Agency Concerning Foreign Assistance

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Thursday, January 24, 1985

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2 min read (339 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 1985-01-24, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Delegation to the Secretary of State and the Director of the International Development Cooperation Agency Concerning Foreign Assistance." 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

▪ By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States of America, including section 621 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C.

▪ 12163, as amended, is further amended by inserting the following new paragraph at the end thereof: "(6) Section 533 of the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1985, which shall be exercised in consultation with the Secretary of State".

▪ 12163, as amended, is further amended by deleting "481(a)" and inserting in lieu thereof "481(h)".

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities

Total Words

339

2,133 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

15.6

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12500, Ronald Reagan (Jan 24, 1985). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12500-delegation-the-secretary-state-and-the-director-the-international.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States of America, including section 621 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2381), and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and in order to delegate certain functions concerning foreign assistance to the Secretary of State and the Director of the International Development Cooperation Agency, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Section 1-201(a) of Executive Order No. 12163, as amended, is further amended by inserting the following new paragraphs at the end thereof: "(26) title III of the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1985 (as enacted in Public Law 98-473) under the unnumbered paragraph entitled "Military Assistance" insofar as they relate to El Salvador, Turkey and Honduras; "(27) section 540 of the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1985; "(28) section 1540 of the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1985 (Public Law 98-525), which shall be exercised in consultation with the Secretary of Defense". Sec. 2. Section 1-102(a) of Executive Order No. 12163, as amended, is further amended by inserting the following new paragraph at the end thereof: "(6) Section 533 of the Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1985, which shall be exercised in consultation with the Secretary of State". Sec. 3. Section 1-701(d) of Executive Order No. 12163, as amended, is further amended by deleting "481(a)" and inserting in lieu thereof "481(h)". Sec. 4. Section 1-902(c) of Executive Order No. 12163, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "References in this order to provisions of any Act, and references in any other Executive order or in any memorandum delegation to provisions of any Act related to the subject of this order shall be deemed to include references to any hereafter-enacted provision of law that is the same or substantially the same as such provisions, respectively." RONALD REAGAN The White House, January 24, 1985. [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:51 p.m., January 24, 1985]