US News Lawsuit seeks to take 'so help me God' out of inaugural

[Seb!]

Hmm. This is kind of different from what I expected:

At noon, the president-elect becomes president. At about that time, the president-elect takes the oath of office, traditionally administered by the Chief Justice of the United States, using the form mandated in Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution:

“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.”

According to tradition, in the first inauguration, President Washington added the words "so help me God" when reciting the oath, although there is no contemporary evidence of this. However, the only contemporaneous source that fully reproduced Washington's oath completely lacks the religious codicil. Given that nearly every President-elect since President Franklin Roosevelt has recited the codicil, it is likely that the majority of presidents-elect have uttered the phrase (as well as some vice presidents, while taking their oaths). However, as President Theodore Roosevelt chose to conclude his oath with the phrase "And thus I swear," it seems that this current of tradition was not overwhelmingly strong even as recently as the turn of the twentieth century. Only Franklin Pierce has chosen to affirm rather than swear.It is often asserted that Herbert Hoover also affirmed, because he was a Quaker, but newspaper reports prior to his inauguration state his intention to swear rather than affirm.

So it appears that the clause is not (in fact) written into the actual oath, which came from Article II: Section I of the Constitution. If this is so, it would be impossible and unlawful for a lawsuit to impede Obthama's right to say "So Help Me God" after the actual oath. This would curtail his Freedom of Speech.

Of course, if you RTFA, Obama is not actually even mentioned in the suit. The plaintiffs want such officials as the Vice President [who also take a (slightly different) oath before entering office] to remove their "So help me God" clause.

The Vice President's oath is as follows, but it doesn't include a "So help me God" clause either. I assume that the VP also inserts it willingly (heh):

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same: that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

 

[Aqua Dragon]

If this lawsuit succeeds (which is probably unlikely but possible), I'm betting that "Under God" will be coming out of the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

[Varine]

I can see it passing under the current Justices.