Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the
Signed December 9, 2003·George W. Bush·68 FR 69295
Source
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Plain-language summary
Directs that all executive branch departments and agencies be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 2003, the day after Christmas. Allows heads of departments and agencies to keep certain offices or installations open and require specific employees to report for duty that day if needed for national security, defense, or other public need. Specifies that December 26, 2003 is to be treated as covered by Executive Order 11582 and related federal pay and leave statutes, so that employee pay and leave for that day are handled the same as for other officially designated holidays.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Legal standing
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered
Quoted from the order as written. Many orders cite nothing more specific than “the Constitution and the laws”; this reproduces what the order claims, not an assessment of whether it holds.
Disposition
See: EO 11582, February 11, 1971
Compiled after the fact by the National Archives, so recent orders often have none yet. An empty disposition means no record, not no activity.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13320 of December 9, 2003
Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of
the
Federal Government on Friday, December 26, 2003
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. All executive branch departments and
agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and
their employees excused from duty on Friday, December
26, 2003, the day after Christmas Day, except as
provided in section 2 below.
Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and
agencies may determine that certain offices and
installations of their organizations, or parts thereof,
must remain open and that certain employees must report
for duty on December 26, 2003, for reasons of national
security or defense or other public need.
Sec. 3. Friday, December 26, 2003, shall be considered
as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of
February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and
other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the
pay and leave of employees of the United States.
(Presidential Sig.)B
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 9, 2003.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed December 9, 2003. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.