PRIA Logo™
Take the PRIA Score
Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§12305 Authority of President to suspend certain laws relating to promotion, retirement, and separation

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle E— - Reserve Components › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL GENERALLY › Chapter CHAPTER 1209— - ACTIVE DUTY › § 12305

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President can pause any law about promotion, retirement, or separation for service members while reservists are on active duty under 10 U.S.C. 12301, 12302, or 12304, if the President decides those members are essential to national security. The pause stops when the reservists are released from that active duty or when the President says the reason for the pause is gone, whichever happens first. When the pause ends, if an officer would have been forced to retire or separate because of age, total years of service, years in grade, or not being selected for promotion, the responsible Secretary must push that retirement or separation date forward by up to 90 days if the original date was before or within 90 days after the pause ended.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §12305

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, during any period members of a reserve component are serving on active duty pursuant to an order to active duty under authority of section 12301, 12302, or 12304 of this title, the President may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States.
(b)A suspension made under the authority of subsection (a) shall terminate (1) upon release from active duty of members of the reserve component ordered to active duty under the authority of section 12301, 12302, or 12304 of this title, as the case may be, or (2) at such time as the President determines the circumstances which required the action of ordering members of the reserve component to active duty no longer exist, which­ever is earlier.
(c)Upon the termination of a suspension made under the authority of subsection (a) of a provision of law otherwise requiring the separation or retirement of officers on active duty because of age, length of service or length of service in grade, or failure of selection for promotion, the Secretary concerned shall extend by up to 90 days the otherwise required separation or retirement date of any officer covered by the suspended provision whose separation or retirement date, but for the suspension, would have been before the date of the termination of the suspension or within 90 days after the date of such termination.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2001—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 107–107 added subsec. (c). 1994—Pub. L. 103–337, § 1662(e)(2), renumbered section 673c of this title as this section. Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 103–337, § 1675(c)(3), substituted “12301, 12302, or 12304” for “672, 673, or 673b”. 1984—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 98–525 inserted “of this title” after “673b”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1994 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 103–337 effective Dec. 1, 1994, except as otherwise provided, see section 1691 of Pub. L. 103–337, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 10001 of this title.

Executive Documents

Ex. Ord. No. 12728. Delegating President’s Authority To Suspend any Provision of Law Relating to Promotion, Retirement, or Separation of Members of Armed Forces Ex. Ord. No. 12728, Aug. 22, 1990, 55 F.R. 35029, as amended by Ex. Ord. No. 13286, § 38, Feb. 28, 2003, 68 F.R. 10626, provided: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 673c [now 12305] of title 10 of the United States Code and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, I hereby order: section 1. The Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Department of the Navy, are hereby designated and empowered to exercise, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, the authority vested in the President by section 673c [now 12305] of title 10 of the United States Code (1) to suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces determined to be essential to the national security of the United States, and (2) to determine, for the purposes of said section, that members of the armed forces are essential to the national security of the United States. Sec. 2. The authority delegated to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security by this order may be redelegated and further subdelegated to subordinates who are appointed to their offices by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sec. 3. This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the executive branch and is not intended to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any person.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 12305

Title 10 — Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73