Executive Order 9708 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)
Executive Order 9708—Specifying Communicable Diseases for the Purpose of Regulations Providing for the Apprehension, Detention, or Conditional Release of Individuals to Prevent the Introduction, Transmission, or Spread of Communicable Diseases
Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.
This executive order, signed by President Harry S Truman on 1946-03-26, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Specifying Communicable Diseases for the Purpose of Regulations Providing for the Apprehension, Detention, or Conditional Release of Individuals to Prevent the Introduction, Transmission, or Spread of Communicable Diseases." 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
▪Formal executive instruction issued by the President establishing official administrative policy on Specifying Communicable Diseases for the Purpose of Regulations Providing for the Apprehension, Detention, or Conditional Release of Individuals to Prevent the Introduction, Transmission, or Spread of Communicable Diseases.
Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted
🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities
🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
🏛️ Foreign Nations & International Entities
🏛️ Public Health & Medical Institutions
Total Words
254
1,771 characters
Estimated Read Time
1 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
39.8
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.02
Framers' Alignment index
📜
Scholarly & Legal Citations
Exec. Order No. 9708, Harry S Truman (Mar 26, 1946). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9708-specifying-communicable-diseases-for-the-purpose-regulations.
Official Document Text
Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)
WHEREAS section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, approved July 1, 1944 (58 Stat. 703), authorizes the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, with the approval of the Federal Security Administrator, to make and enforce such regulations as in his judgment are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States or possession, or from one State or possession into any other State or possession; WHEREAS subsection (b) of the said section provides that regulations so prescribed shall not provide for the apprehension detention, or conditional release of individuals except for the purpose of preventing the introduction, transmission, or spread of such communicable diseases as may be specified from time to time in Executive orders of the President upon the recommendation of the National Advisory Health Council and the Surgeon General; and WHEREAS the National Advisory Health Council and the Surgeon General have recommended that the communicable diseases hereinafter named by specified pursuant to the said subsection (b): NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Public Health Service Act, and as President of the United States, the following-named communicable diseases are hereby specified pursuant to subsection 361(b) of the Public Health Service Act: Anthrax, Chancroid, Cholera, Dengue, Diptheria, Favus, Gonorrhea, Granuloma Inguinale, Infectious Encephalitis, Leprosy, Lymphogranuloma Venereum, Meningococcus Meningitis, Plague, Poliomyelitis, Psittacosis, Ringworm of the Scalp, Scarlet Fever, Smallpox, Streptococcic Sore Throat, Syphilis, Trachoma, Tuberculosis, Typhoid Fever, Typhus, Yellow Fever. HARRY S. TRUMAN THE WHITE HOUSE, March 26, 1946
