Executive Order 8450 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 8450—Withdrawal of Public Lands for Use of the War Department as a Bombing and Gunnery Range

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Thursday, June 20, 1940

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2 min read (381 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 Franklin D. Roosevelt on 1940-06-20, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Withdrawal of Public Lands for Use of the War Department as a Bombing and Gunnery Range." 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

▪ That all the public lands within the following-described areas be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public-land laws including the mining laws, subject to valid existing rights, for the use of the War Department as a bombing and gunnery range: SAN BERNARDINO MERIDIAN T.

▪ This order shall continue in force until revoked by the President or by act of Congress.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners

Total Words

381

1,826 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8450, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jun 20, 1940). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8450-withdrawal-public-lands-for-use-the-war-department-bombing-and.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

CALIFORNIA By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1 of the act of July 9, 1918, 40 Stat. 845, 848 (U.S.C., title 10, sec. 1341), it is hereby ordered that all the public lands within the following-described areas be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public-land laws including the mining laws, subject to valid existing rights, for the use of the War Department as a bombing and gunnery range: SAN BERNARDINO MERIDIAN T. 9 N., R. 6 W., secs. 5 to 8, inclusive, secs. 17 to 20, inclusive, and secs. 29 to 32, inclusive. T. 10 N., R. 6 W., S½SW¼ and S½SE¼ sec. 5, E½ sec. 6, secs. 7, 8, 17 to 20, inclusive, and secs. 29 to 32, inclusive. T. 9 N.. R 7 W., secs. 1 to 36, inclusive. T. 10 N., R. 7 W., secs. 7 to 36, inclusive. T. 9 N., R. 8 W., secs. 1 to 36, inclusive. T 10 N. R. 8 W., sec. 6. N½ and SW¼ sec. 7. S½SE¼ sec. 9, S½ and S½NE¼ sec. 10, secs. 11 to 16, inclusive, S½, NE¼, and S½NW¼ sec. 17, S½SW¼ and SE¼ sec. 18, secs. 19 to 36, inclusive. T. 8 N., R. 9 W., secs. 1 to 6, inclusive. T. 9 N., R. 9 W., secs. 1 to 36, inclusive. T. 10 N., R. 9 W.. secs. 1 to 12, inclusive, NW¼ and N½NE¼ sec. 13, SW¼ and N½ sec. 14, secs. 15 to 20, inclusive, N½ and N½SW¼ sec. 21. N½NW¼ sec. 22, S½SW¼ and SE¼ sec. 23, S½, S½NW¼ and NE¼ sec. 24, secs. 25 to 29, inclusive, E½W½ and E½ sec. 32, secs. 33 to 36, inclusive. T. 8 N., R. 10 W., secs. 1 and 2. T. 9 N., R. 10 W., secs. 1, 2, 11 to 14, inclusive. secs. 23 to 26, inclusive, secs. 35 and 36. T. 10 N., R. 10 W., secs. 12, 13, 24, 35 and 36. This order supersedes Executive Orders No. 6588 of February 6, 1934, No. 7707 of September 11, 1937, and No. 7740 of November 15, 1937. This order shall continue in force until revoked by the President or by act of Congress. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, June 20, 1940.