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Executive Orders Archive

Every President • 1789 to Present

Executive Order 9882 Constitutional Neutral (+0.02)

Executive Order 9882—Appointment of the Members of a Military Tribunal Established for the Trial and Punishment of Major War Criminals in Germany

Thursday, August 7, 1947
2 min read (420 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 Harry S Truman on 1947-08-07, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Appointment of the Members of a Military Tribunal Established for the Trial and Punishment of Major War Criminals in Germany." 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 virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, it is ordered as follows: 1.
I hereby designate James Morris Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the State of North Dakota, George James Burke, Member of Advisory Committee on rules of criminal procedure, Supreme Court of United States, and Paul M.
Hebert, Dean of Law School, Louisiana State University, as the members of one of the several military tribunals established by the Military Governor for the United States Zone of Occupation within Germany pursuant to the quadripartite agreement of the Control Council for Germany, enacted December 20, 1945, as Control Council law No.
The members herein designated shall receive such compensation and allowances for expenses as may be determined by the Secretary of War and as may be payable from appropriations or funds available to the War Department for such purposes.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants
Total Words
420
2,578 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
23.5
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.02
Framers' Alignment index
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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 9882, Harry S Truman (Aug 7, 1947). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-9882-appointment-the-members-military-tribunal-established-for-the-trial.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)