Assignment of Functions Relating to Certain Promotion and Appointment Actions in the Armed Forces
Signed January 27, 2012·Barack Obama·77 FR 5371
Source
Everything on this page is drawn from the Federal Register, the official daily journal of the United States government. Where this page and the source disagree, the source governs.
Plain-language summary
Assigns the Secretary of Defense to perform certain presidential functions under title 10 of the United States Code related to military promotions and appointments. This includes reviewing reports on promotions to brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half) and above, extending officer promotion eligibility periods, and appointing members of the Marine Band and Marine Drum and Bugle Corps to grades up to captain. The Secretary may reassign the reporting and eligibility-extension functions only to Senate-confirmed civilian officers within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, but may not reassign the authority over Marine Band and Drum and Bugle Corps appointments. The order states it does not limit the President's constitutional authority as Commander in Chief or over appointments, and it creates no enforceable legal rights for any outside party.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
Report a problem with this summary
Legal standing
Not yet published. Court challenges, injunctions and rulings tied to individual orders will appear here once each can be linked to its source record.
Nothing appears in this space without a citation to a court action or a cited precedent. An order with no such record is described as untested, never as likely or unlikely to survive.
Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, 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.
The order, in full
Executive Order 13598 of January 27, 2012
Assignment of Functions Relating to Certain
Promotion and Appointment Actions in the Armed Forces
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including section 301 of title 3, United
States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Assignment of Functions to the Secretary of
Defense. The Secretary of Defense shall perform the
functions of the President under the following
provisions of title 10, United States Code:
(a) the first sentence of section 14111(a) with
respect to reports relating to the grades of brigadier
general or above, or rear admiral (lower half) or
above;
(b) sections 629(c)(2) and 14310(c)(2) with respect
to extending officer promotion eligibility periods; and
(c) section 6222(c)(2) with respect to appointments
of members of the Marine Band and members of the Marine
Drum and Bugle Corps to grades not above the grade of
captain.
Sec. 2. Reassignment of Functions Assigned. The
Secretary of Defense may reassign the functions
assigned to him by sections 1(a) and (b)of this order
only to civilian officers within the Office of the
Secretary of Defense (as defined in section 131(b) of
title 10, United States Code) who hold a position for
which the President makes an appointment by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate. The Secretary of
Defense may not reassign the function assigned to him
by section 1(c) of this order.
Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to limit or otherwise affect the
authority of the President as Commander in Chief of the
Armed Forces of the United States, or under the
Constitution and laws of the United States to nominate
or to make or terminate appointments.
(b) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 27, 2012.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed January 27, 2012. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.