Before taking office, elected officials vow to uphold the US Constitution. But what if they are accused of doing the opposite?
While some Republicans in Congress continued to support President Donald Trump’s doomed attempt to reverse the election, critics – including President-elect Joe Biden – claimed they violated their oaths and pledged allegiance to Trump instead.
The oaths, which rarely draw much attention, have become a common topic in the closing days of Trump’s presidency, appealed to members of both parties as they met on Wednesday to confirm Biden’s victory and a violent Trump mob. supporters stormed the Capitol..
“They also swore on a bible to uphold the constitution, and that’s where they really step out and neglect duty,” said former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican who served as EPA administrator during the former president. George W. Bush’s Administration. “They have sworn to uphold the Constitution against all our enemies, foreign or domestic, and they ignore it.”
Oaths differ slightly between government agencies, but elected officials generally swear to defend the constitution. The Senate website states that the current oath is related to the 1860s, “drawn up by members of the Civil War era congress with the intent of trapping traitors.”
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, vowed to honor the oath she had taken and affirm the results of the presidential election, while urging colleagues to do the same. Republican Senator Todd Young, from Indiana, was seen in one video posted on social media to tell Trump supporters outside a Senate office that he took an oath to the constitution under God, asking, “Are we still taking that seriously in this country?”
Corey Brettschneider, professor of political science at Brown University and author of “The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents,” said the oath must be taken seriously and Americans must demand its enforcement, otherwise it is risk for the entire system. He said he would support censorship, a formal declaration of censure, for officials who are clearly violating their oaths.
“The worst that can happen is people roll their eyes for the oath and say, ‘Oh, none of them mean it’, and I think what we need to do in times of crisis is the exact opposite – that’s to to say this means something, ”said Brettschneider.“ If you break the law, you have to be held accountable, and that’s what the American people are actually doing to be furious when Trump does what he has done. ”
Republicans who have filed or backed lawsuits against Biden’s November victory have claimed without evidence that the election was rigged against Trump. Their cases have failed in courts up to the US Supreme Court. Both Republican and Democratic officials have viewed the election results as legitimate and free from widespread fraud.
The oaths were often mentioned at a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, intended to confirm Biden’s victory. Some Republicans who objected to the election results claimed their oaths demanded of them, while Democrats urged their counterparts to honor their oaths and confirm Biden as the next president.
“The oath I took last Sunday to defend and support the constitution makes it necessary for me to object to this travesty,” said Representative Lauren Boebert, a newly elected Republican from Colorado.
As lawmakers met, violent protesters loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol in an uprising meant to prevent Biden from replacing Trump in the White House. As authorities struggled to regain control, Biden called on Trump to abide by his oath and ease tensions.
“I call on President Trump to get on national television now to honor his oath and defend the constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said.
The GOP’s attempt to block formal confirmation of Biden’s victory eventually failed after Republicans reiterated arguments of fraud and other irregularities that failed to gain traction.
Democrats quickly condemned Republicans who continued to oppose the results.
California Representative Adam Schiff asked, “Does our oath to uphold the Constitution, which has just been taken, mean so little? I don’t think so. ”He added that“ an oath is no less broken if the breach does not reach its end. ”
Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, said she would table a resolution calling for the expulsion of Republicans seeking to invalidate the election results.
“I believe the Republican members of Congress who instigated this domestic terrorist attack through their efforts to reverse the election should have consequences,” she says. tweeted. “They’ve broken their holy oath of office.”
Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat in Michigan, said officials who continued to support Trump’s baseless allegations of fraud violated their oath and their rhetoric encouraged the rioters who stormed the Capitol.
“They have a loyalty they have sworn to – not to the Constitution and not to the United States of America, but to one man, and that man is Donald Trump,” she said. “And they refuse to walk away from that no matter what he says, whatever he does, and I think history won’t judge them kindly on that.”
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Izaguirre reported from Lindenhurst, New York. Writer Christina A. Cassidy of the Associated Press in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press’ reporting on voting rights is supported in part by Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for this content.