Dartblog

There is a great deal of coverage of now President Obama’s inauguration, but I just wanted to make a few comments about the oath of office. Obviously this was the first presidential oath that Obama has sworn, but also the first for Chief Justice Roberts.

The constitutional oath reads as follows: “I do solemnly swear 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.”

Roberts: Are you ready to take the oath Senator
Obama: I am
Roberts: I, Barack Hussein Obama…
Obama: I, Barack… (talking over Roberts)
Roberts: … do solemnly swear…
Obama: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear…
Roberts: … that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully…
Obama: … that I will execute…
Roberts: … faithfully the office of president of the United States…
Obama: … the office of president of the United States faithfully…
Roberts: … and will to the best of my ability…
Obama: … and will to best of my ability…
Roberts: … preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Obama: … preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Roberts: So help you God?
Obama: So help me God.

First Obama jumps the gun by beginning his recitation prematurely—I watched a few previous oaths for comparison and in all the Chief Justice continued through “solemnly swear” before the president-elect begins. Then on the second part, Roberts put the “faithfully” in the wrong place, at least on the first go round, at the end rather than at the start (he gets a second try because Obama stops midway through). Then Roberts gets it right but Obama repeats the line the incorrect way that Roberts stated it initially. Also, in the transcript above and video below, you can see both men having difficulty with prepositions and Obama with a definite article.

What really struck me was the questioning inflection that Roberts seemed to put at the end of “so help me God.” To begin with, I didn’t expect him to say that, I thought (wrongly, I now know, after watching a number of other oaths) that the president simply added the phrase after “United States,” but evidently it is standard practice for the president to repeat this after the Chief Justice. In Eisenhower’s first oath in 1953, with Chief Justice Frederick Vinson administering, the final line was arguably posed as a question, but not quite with the degree of query present here. In this case the statement was not posed with questioning inflection to be repeated and affirmed, but rather as a question, “so help you God?” To be answered, “Yes, so help me…” Of course this part of the oath is not constitutionally required, and thus there is no technically correct language or phraseology.

Already in his relatively brief tenure on the Court, Roberts has made waves by citing Bob Dylan lyrics in an opinion and perhaps this tack was Roberts merely expressing some constitutionally-permitted originality. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here. In fact, the more I think about it, Roberts phrasing could be considered very progressive. Since the language is not in the Constitution, it really may be more appropriate to ask, rather than assert for repitition, the invocation of God.

Video of President Obama’s oath, here.