Inaugural Oath, second attempt: Barack Obama decided to take the oath again
Jan, 22, 2009
Posted byHaving messed up the inaugural oath during the presidential inauguration ceremonies on Capitol Hill, Obama was responsive to constitutional expert’s pleas urging him to retake the oath.
“It’s an open question whether he’s president until he takes the proper oath” stressed Jack Beermann, a Boston University constitutional scholar. Moreover, Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, stressed that “[Obama]should probably go ahead and take the oath again,” explaining that “If he doesn’t, there are going to be people who for the next four years are going to argue that he didn’t meet the constitutional standard.”
White House counsel Greg Craig stated that “We believe the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday. Yet the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of the abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice John Roberts will administer the oath a second time.”
Obama and Roberts repeat the oath
Thus, Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts complying with the expert’s wishes, repeated the inaugural oath the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters.
Before Obama, two other presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues, Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur.
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