Before taking office, the elected officials swear to uphold the US Constitution. But what happens when they are accused of doing the opposite?
While some Republicans in Congress continued to support President Donald Trump’s doomed effort to overthrow the election, critics – including President-elect Joe Biden – They claimed to have broken their vows and, in return, pledged allegiance to Trump.
Oaths, which rarely attract much attention, have become a common topic in the last days of Trump’s presidency, being invoked by members of both parties as they met Wednesday to claim Biden’s victory and a violent crowd of Trump supporters. stormed the US Chapter.
“They also swore a Bible to support the Constitution, and that’s where they really go out and give up their debt,” said Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey Gov. W The Bush Administration. “They have sworn to uphold the Constitution against all our enemies, foreign or domestic, and they ignore this.”
Oaths vary slightly between government bodies, but elected officials generally swear to defend the Constitution. The Senate’s website says his current oath is related to the 1860s, “written by members of the Civil War Congress with the intent of catching traitors.”
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, vowed to honor her oath and affirm the results of the presidential election, while urging her colleagues to do the same. Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana was seen in a video posted on social media telling Trump supporters outside a Senate office building that he took the oath of office under the Constitution and asked, “Are we still taking this seriously in this country?
Corey Brettschneider, a professor of political science at Brown University and author of “Oath and Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents,” said the oath must be taken seriously and that Americans must demand it or “the risk is to the whole system.” . “He said he would support the censorship, a formal statement of disapproval, for officials who clearly violate their oath.
“The worst thing that could happen is that people turn their eyes to the oath and say, ‘Oh, none of them mean that,’ and I think what we need to do in a time of crisis is just the opposite. “I mean, that means something,” Brettschneider said. “When you break the law, you have to be held accountable, and it’s really up to the American people to be outraged when Trump does what he did.”
Republicans who filed or supported lawsuits challenging Biden’s victory in November claimed, without evidence, that the election was rigged against Trump. Their cases failed before the courts until the US Supreme Court. Both Republican and Democratic officials considered the election results legitimate and free from widespread fraud.
The oaths were often mentioned on Wednesday during a joint session of Congress to confirm Biden’s victory. Some Republicans who objected to the election results claimed that the oaths required them to do so, while Democrats urged their counterparts to honor their oaths and assert Biden as their next president.
“The oath I took last Sunday to defend and uphold the Constitution makes it necessary to oppose this disguise,” said Rep. Lauren Boebert, a newly elected Republican from Colorado.
As lawmakers met, violent protesters loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol in an insurrection aimed at preventing Biden from replacing Trump in the White House. As authorities struggled to regain control, Biden called on Trump to keep his oath and go to ease tensions.
“I call on President Trump to go to national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said.
The GOP’s effort to block the formal confirmation of Biden’s victory ultimately failed after Republicans recycled arguments of fraud and other irregularities that failed to gain attention.
Democrats rushed to condemn Republicans who continued to oppose the results.
Representative Adam Schiff of California asked, “Does our vow to uphold the Constitution, taken a few days ago, mean so little? I don’t think so. “He added that” an oath is no less violated when the violation fails to come to an end. “
Representative Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, said he would introduce a resolution calling for the expulsion of Republicans who decided to invalidate the election results.
“I think Republican members of Congress who incited this internal terrorist attack by their attempts to overthrow the election must face consequences,” she said. posted on Twitter. “They have broken their sacred oath of office.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said officials who continued to support Trump’s baseless allegations of fraud broke their oath, and their rhetoric fell in love with the rebels who stormed the Chapter.
“They have a belief that they swore – not to the Constitution and not to the United States, but to one man, and that man is Donald Trump,” she said. “And he refuses to go away from that, no matter what he says, no matter what he does, and I don’t think history will judge him kindly for that.”
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Izaguirre reported from Lindenhurst, New York. Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy of Atlanta contributed to the report.
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