This is factually innacurate. There is absolutely no Consitutional requirement for House members or even the President to swear on the Bible when taking his oath of office - while Presidents have traditionally done so, it's not clear that any oath needs to be with one hand on the Bible to qualify as an oath (it likely doesn't), and under the Constitution, office holders can take an affirmation of office of office instead of an oath anyway. In fact, President Teddy Roosevelt didn't swear on the Bible when he became President after McKinley's death in 1901. One simply might not have been available at the time. He still became President.
House members are traditionally sworn in en masse by the Speaker on the first day of Congress immediately after the Speaker of the House is elected and sworn in. The 2005 swearing in ceremony is available on C-SPAN's website
here. The Speaker is sworn in around 2:13:30 by the Dean of the House; the rest of Congress is sworn in shortly thereafter.
All Speaker Hastert asked members to do was raise their right hands while being sworn in. As a practical matter, the House floor normally seats 448 (they somehow squeeze in more seats for the State of the Union address), and there are up to 439 other members of the House (including non-voting members from the territories and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico) that need to be sworn in at that time. There isn't that much room on the floor for aides or family members to hold the Bible for Congressmen to swear on. So, as you can see from the video, most Congressmen appear to raise their right hand and put their left hand on nothing, at least during this ceremonial swearing in.
Now, there may be a chance for members to have a ceremonial one-on-one swearing in for photo-op purposes (or if the Member is not present at the opening of Congress or is later elected). For example, Congressman Rothman (D-NJ) has a picture of him being "sworn in" with his hand on what appears to be the Bible on his House
website. This is when Ellison might swear on the Koran - for a photo-op.
You are 100% correct. A local talker called the clerk's office at the house of representatives in DC this afternoon. She explained it just as you have. Mass swearing in, no Bibles, just right hands in the air. Then, if requested, a private photo op swearing in with what ever prop they choose or none at all.
However.....Ellison will be darned sure to do the private photo-op thing with his koran, just to rub our collective noses in it. He's an arrogant prick. Muslim or not.
conservative in nyc writes:
".... under the Constitution, office holders can take an affirmation of office of office instead of an oath anyway.
You are quite correct!
At least two Presidents "affirmed" rather than taking an oath: Herbert Hoover and Franklin Pierce. Hoover was a Quaker and Quakers traditionally do not take oaths. Franklin Pierce also had religious scruples against swearing and "affirmed."
conservative in nyc writes:
".... under the Constitution, office holders can take an affirmation of office of office instead of an oath anyway.
You are quite correct!
At least two Presidents "affirmed" rather than taking an oath: Herbert Hoover and Franklin Pierce. Hoover was a Quaker and Quakers traditionally do not take oaths. Franklin Pierce also had religious scruples against swearing and "affirmed."