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Executive Orders Archive

Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 12608 Constitutional Fidelity (+0.26)

Executive Order 12608—Elimination of Unnecessary Executive Orders and Technical Amendments to Others

Wednesday, September 9, 1987
11 min read (2,136 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 1987-09-09, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Elimination of Unnecessary Executive Orders and Technical Amendments to Others." It is an expansive, comprehensive regulatory directive mandating coordinated enforcement, detailed procedural standards, and formal agency compliance benchmarks across multiple federal departments.

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

8744, 10880, and 12034, benefits already conferred under these Executive Orders before revocation shall not be affected.
9979 is amended by revoking paragraph 1 and deleting the "2." introducing the remaining paragraph.
10289, as amended, is further amended as follows: (a) In Section 1(c), by deleting the words "section 2 of the Act of August 18, 1914, c.
Appendix 146),"; (e) By revoking Sections l(g) and l(j), and renumbering Sections l(h) and l(i) as Sections l(g) and l(h), respectively; (f) Adding a new subsection (i) to Section l: "(i) The authority vested in the President by Section 5318 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (19 U.S.C.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
Total Words
2,136
13,230 characters
Estimated Read Time
11 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
12.9
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.26
Framers' Alignment index
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12608, Ronald Reagan (Sep 9, 1987). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12608-elimination-unnecessary-executive-orders-and-technical-amendments.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)