Posted on 01/20/2009 10:45:44 PM PST by America2012
Several constitutional lawyers said President Barack Obama should, just to be safe, retake the oath of office that Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed.
The 35-word oath is explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Article II, Section One, which says the president "shall" take the oath "before he enteron the execution of his office." It was discussed during the Constitutional Convention.
Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully," at which point Obama paused quizzically, and then Roberts corrected himself, but then Obama repeated the words as Roberts initially said them.
The oath reads: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
A do-over "would take him 30 seconds, he can do it in private, it's not a big deal, and he ought to do it just to be safe," said Boston University constitutional scholar and Supreme Court watcher Jack Beermann. "It's an open question whether he's president until he takes the proper oath."
The courts would probably never hear a challenge, and some might argue that Obama automatically took office at noon because that's when President Bush left the office. But because the procedure is so explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Beermann said if he were Obama's lawyer, he would recommend retaking it, just as two previous presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur, did under similar circumstances.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Actually, isn’t it the 20th amendment to the Constitution that makes the swearing-in a formality? The office changes hands at noon regardles of what the incoming president says or does. So calling the swearing-in a “formality” is actually a strict interpretation of the Constitution.
I don’t have a problem with that, but do wish that the Dem voters would show a little more class and respect for tradition.
she is the kind of person who is a know it all, and she was caught not knowing damn thing.
yeah, it was.
No amendment can make an oath sworn before God into a mere formality.
God is watching and listening.
My experience is that inductees hold up their hands and move their lips. Obama did that. In any case, the principle behind fixed terms that they expire, that the office is vacated at that point and that the duly elected person holds the office from that point in time unless he chooses to resign.
The President does not necessarily give an oath. He can just affirm his intention.
He's president. But the legality of his actions could be challenged since the Constitution says he must take the oath before exercising the duties of President. What we need not is a lawsuit. Paging Mr. Berg, Mr. Philip Berg. Please call your office.
I have no idea what that means. An oath is required, and an oath is binding before God and man.
I don’t think Hoover swore an oath, because he was a Quaker. Art VI forbids any religious test, and it would be pointless to ask an atheist to take an oath.
I think the constitution says,” I solemnly swear (or affirm)....”
Either way, he is bound to follow the Constitution.
We’re dealing with something here that is at the very heart of our form of republican self-government. The failure to keep the oath of office is at the core of why the country is going down. And practically our entire legal and political elite are the guilty parties in this regard.
I guess you onlly respect *parts* of the Constitution then. The Constitution commands that the oath be taken before entering into the office.
But the inductees also sign the oath, do they not? I know officers do, since I did, and I checked to see if they still do. Do we expect less of the President than of a new shavetail/butter bar?
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