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 ...
I Barack........ I Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear.
Jeez, I detest Obama’s ideas as much as the next guy, but this is silly. What’s sillier is a bunch of “scholars” actually sat around and debated the topic. Do it again in private, just to be safe? C’mon, gimme a break.
He won’t.
And when he gets in trouble, he will blame it on the Bush appointed Roberts.
Coolidge re-took the oath because he was sworn in in the middle of the night by his father. The issue was, Did his father, as a local magistrate, have the authority to administer the oath? Probably, since the Constitution does not specify that the Chief Justice be involved at all.
Don’t know about Arthur. Wasn’t he sworn in when Garfield died?
Coolidge re-took the oath because he was sworn in in the middle of the night by his father. The issue was, Did his father, as a local magistrate, have the authority to administer the oath? Probably, since the Constitution does not specify that the Chief Justice be involved at all.
Don’t know about Arthur. Wasn’t he sworn in when Garfield died?
Tell him to bring his birth certificate wile he is at it.
Ignore that last post, the audio got nasty in the end. didnt know. Ill have mods remove.
What’s the point? No one even bothered to check to see if they guy was elegible for the office? Whether he was a citizen? SO WHY WORRY ABOUT FLUBBING THE OATH? Gees.
Nonsense. The presidential term ends at 12 noon EST on the day. At high noon Bush ceased to be president and Obama became president. The swearing in is a formality.
They don’t even care if he was born here, why would they care about the oath?
B. Hussein flubs anything----->we must do over!
Definitely. I'm skeptical as all get out about that.
He holds his hand over the Bible and takes a minimal oath.
LOL :)
Hussein should provide a birf certificate while he’s at it. Re-do the oaf and finally provide his birf certificate on and for all.
From 12:00 to the time he took the oath, about 5 minutes later, he couldn’t execute the powers of the Presidency. Nancy Pelosi could, however, if I understand the wording correctly.
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