Executive Order 8651 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 8651—Withdrawal of Public Lands for the Use of the War Department

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Thursday, January 23, 1941

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2 min read (326 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 1941-01-23, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Withdrawal of Public Lands for the Use of the War Department." 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

▪ 1341), it is ordered that, subject to valid existing rights, the public lands in the following-described areas be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public-land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing and gunnery range: Willamette Meridian T.

▪ This order shall take precedence over, but not rescind or revoke, the withdrawals made by the Executive order of February 25, 1919, creating Public Water Reserve No.

▪ 25 E., heretofore included in first form reclamation withdrawal by orders of the Secretary of the Interior dated August 22, 1904, and August 16, 1906, this order shall terminate upon notice to the War Department by the Secretary of the Interior that such lands are needed for reclamation purposes.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

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

Total Words

326

1,724 characters

Estimated Read Time

2 min

@ 200 words / min

Flesch-Kincaid

8.3

Post-Grad reading level

Constitutional Polarity

+0.02

Framers' Alignment index

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 8651, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jan 23, 1941). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-8651-withdrawal-public-lands-for-the-use-the-war-department.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →

OREGON By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 1 of the act of July 9, 1918, c. 143, 40 Stat. 845, 858 (U.S.C., title 10, sec. 1341), it is ordered that, subject to valid existing rights, the public lands in the following-described areas be, and they are hereby, withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public-land laws, including the mining laws, and reserved for the use of the War Department as an aerial bombing and gunnery range: Willamette Meridian T. 2 N., R. 24 E., secs. 1 to 24, inclusive; T. 3 N., R. 24 E., all; T. 4 N., R. 24 E., secs. 25 to 36, inclusive; T. 2 N., R. 25 E., secs. 1 to 24, inclusive; T. 3 N., R. 25 E., all; T. 4 N., R. 25 E., secs. 25 to 36, inclusive; containing approximately 93,424.21 acres. This order shall take precedence over, but not rescind or revoke, the withdrawals made by the Executive order of February 25, 1919, creating Public Water Reserve No. 61, so far as it affects the SE¼SW¼, W½SE¼ sec. 22, T. 2 N., R. 25 E.; and the order of the Secretary of the Interior of February 26, 1940, reserving the NE¼NE¼SE¼ sec. 26, T. 3 N., R. 24 E., for the use of the Civil Aeronautics Authority for the establishment and maintenance of air-navigation facilities. So far as it affects the lands in secs. 12, 26, 34, T. 3 N., R. 24 E., secs. 4, 6, T. 2 N., R. 25 E., NW¼, S½ sec. 28, secs. 30 and 32, T. 3 N., R. 25 E., heretofore included in first form reclamation withdrawal by orders of the Secretary of the Interior dated August 22, 1904, and August 16, 1906, this order shall terminate upon notice to the War Department by the Secretary of the Interior that such lands are needed for reclamation purposes. FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT The White House, January 23, 1941.