Strict constructionist Chief Justice flubs oath, Obama presidency survives unscathed

[Baker, John]

        Here's what Obama actually said.  I omit the constitutionally
unimportant erroneous promptings by Chief Justice Roberts, which were
what led Obama astray.  The full text, including promptings, is on the
Web of Language at http://illinois.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=2446.

        "I, Barack... I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear... that
I will execute... the office of president of the United States
faithfully... and will to the best of my ability... preserve, protect
and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God."

        The U.S. Constitution (art. II, sec. 1, cl. 8) requires the
oath:  "Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take
the following Oath or Affirmation:-'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.'"

        So the oath is not just a meaningless formality.  It is required
before the execution of the office, though it may be, as many have
argued, that Obama actually became President at noon, when, under the
20th Amendment, Bush's term ended.  But Obama couldn't take any official
action until he took the oath.  Since Obama actually took the oath three
or four minutes after noon, this means that we did not have a President
able to act during that time.  If the bad guys had chosen to launch a
missile attack on the U.S. during that period, I expect that the
Pentagon nonetheless would have followed Obama's orders and worried
about the oath later, but the validity of any vetoes, executive orders,
pardons, etc., issued during this period would have been in doubt.
Predictably, Obama did not interrupt his inauguration ceremony to issue
any executive orders.

        However, I don't see any challenges to the oath getting anywhere
(nor have I seen any conservative blogs actually arguing that the oath
was invalid, in spite of predictions that this argument would be made).
The oath has never been understood as an in haec verba requirement.  In
particular, it's customary for the new President to include his name and
to add the words "so help me God," both of which Obama did.  The
different location for the "faithfully" modifier seems to me to have not
even a de minimis change in the sentence's import.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Dennis Baron
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 1:21 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Strict constructionist Chief Justice flubs oath, Obama
presidency survives unscathed

There's a new post on the Web of Language:

Strict constructionist Chief Justice flubs oath, Obama presidency
survives unscathed

Article II, sec. i of the U.S. Constitution prescribes the presidential
oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States and will to best of
my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States."
But Chief Justice Roberts, who administered the oath to Barak Obama, is
a strict constructionist and didn't feel the need to bring the
Constitution along to the presidential inaugural. Instead, Roberts spoke
from memory, flubbing the oath by asking Pres. Obama to repeat the
phrase, "that I will execute the office of President to the United
States faithfully."

Roberts, who seems to have inherited his linguistic mangling from the
president who appointed him, made two errors.  He said "President to the
United States," and he moved the adverb faithfully to the end of the
sentence.

Roberts corrected the to when he repeated the phrase, but faithfully
continued to wander around the 35-word oath, both when Roberts said it
and when Obama repeated it. This failure to adhere to the letter of the
Constitution will certainly prompt stricter constructionists than the
Chief Justice to wonder whether Obama is really our 44th president after
all. . . .

Find out how to resolve this first constitutional crisis of the Obama
presidency. Read the rest of the post on the Web of Language.

____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage

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