Let me give you a scenario and have you (or anybody else) respond.
Let’s suppose that right up to this very day Obama is refusing to take the oath of office publicly. Let’s suppose that he said he made his oath in his bedroom sometime before Jan 20, 2009; he says it’s recorded but he won’t allow anybody to hear the recording because it would be embarrassing to him.
Would Obama be able to issue orders for a troop surge in Afghanistan? Who would decide that and how?
The Constitution stipulates only that the President-elect take the oath. It doesn’t stipulate who must administer the oath or where it should be administered.
It’s tradition that the Chief Justice administer the oath and that we have a public inauguration ceremony. There’s no legal requirement for such.
LBJ was sworn in on a plane by other than the Chief Justice. The military was sent to South Vietnam on his orders.
So yes, Obama could order additional combat operations regardless of where he took his oath.
“Let’s suppose that right up to this very day Obama is refusing to take the oath of office publicly. Let’s suppose that he said he made his oath in his bedroom sometime before Jan 20, 2009; he says it’s recorded but he won’t allow anybody to hear the recording because it would be embarrassing to him.
Would Obama be able to issue orders for a troop surge in Afghanistan? Who would decide that and how?”
If all 50 states recognized him as President, and Congress without objection recognized him as President, and the Supreme Court recognized him as President, then yes, he could.
The problem is one the founder of this site pointed out to you - individual officers don’t get to determine who is President. Lakin was NEVER the right venue.
My own reading is that there is no requirement in the Constitution for the the taking of the oath or affirmation to be in public. If there are witnesses to the oath or affirmation then it stands.
There have in fact been private unrecorded swearing ins on the death of a sitting president so it’s not completly unprecedented.
Yes the President would be able to issue orders to deploy. “Who would decide that and how?” is probably the wrong question - it’s really “How could someone challenge that?”
I don’t have strong views on the answer but impeachment and conviction in Congress is the most obvious. I doubt that the use of Quo Warrento is constitutional (but I could be wrong).