    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 112th Congress]
    [112nd Congress]
    [House Document 111-157]
    [The United States Constitution]
    [Pages 84-88]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                   ARTICLE VI.

    Sec. 194. Validity of debts and engagements.

      \1\ All  Debts
    contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this
    Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this
    Constitution, as under the Confederation.

    Sec. 195. Constitution, laws, and treaties the
    supreme law of the land.

      \2\ This  Constitution, and the Laws of the United
    States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made,
    or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall
    be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be
    bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the
    Contrary notwithstanding.

    Sec. 196. Oaths of public officers; and prohibition of
    religious tests.

      \3\ The  Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and
    the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and
    judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States,
    shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but
    no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any
    Office or public Trust under the United States.

    [[Page 85]]

    allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation
    freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I
    will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I
    am about to enter. So help me God.''

    Sec. 197. Form of oath.

      The  form of the oath is prescribed
    by statute (5 U.S.C. 3331; I, 128): ``I, AB, do solemnly swear (or
    affirm) 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

    Sec. 198. Administration of oath at organization.

      The  Act of
    June 1, 1789 (2 U.S.C. 25), provides that on the organization of the
    House and previous to entering on any other business the oath shall be
    administered by any Member (generally the Member with longest continuous
    service) (I, 131; VI, 6) to the Speaker and by the Speaker to the other
    Members and Clerk (I, 130). The Act has at times been considered in the
    House as directory merely (I, 118, 242, 243, 245; VI, 6); but at other
    times has been observed carefully (I, 118, 140). The Act was cited by
    the Clerk in recognizing for nominations for Speaker as being of higher
    constitutional privilege than a resolution to postpone the election of a
    Speaker and instead provide for the election of a Speaker pro tempore
    pending the disposition of certain ethics charges against the nominee of
    the majority party (Jan. 7, 1997, p. 115).

      Previously it was the custom to administer the oath by State
    delegations, but beginning with the 71st Congress Members-elect have
    been sworn in en masse (VI, 8). The Clerk supplies printed copies of the
    oath to Members and Delegates who have taken the oath in accordance with
    law, which shall be subscribed by the Members and Delegates and
    delivered to the Clerk to be recorded in the Journal and Congressional
    Record as conclusive proof of the fact that the signer duly took the
    oath in accordance with law (2 U.S.C. 25). See Deschler, ch. 2. Where
    two Members-elect participated in various House and committee business
    before taking the oath of office, the House adopted a resolution (1)
    correcting the results of record votes to remove mention of them, and
    (2) ratifying the following activities involving one or both of them:
    election to and participation in standing committee; introduction and
    numbering of measures; submission of items to the Congressional Record;
    co-sponsorship of measures; and non-voting participation in floor
    proceedings (Jan. 7, 2011, p. _).

    [[Page 86]]

    oath (VI, 20). The House may authorize the Speaker
    to administer the oath away from the House (I, 169), or may, in such a
    case, authorize another than the Speaker to administer the oath (I, 170;
    VI, 14). For forms used in this procedure, see VI, 14. The Speaker has
    requested that guests in the gallery rise with the Members during the
    administration of the oath of office to a Member-elect (Nov. 12, 1991,
    p. 31255).

    Sec. 199. Functions of the Speaker in administering the
    oath.

      The  Speaker possesses no arbitrary power in the administration of
    the oath (I, 134), and when objection is made the question must be
    decided by the House and not by the Chair (I, 519, 520). An objection
    prevents the Speaker from administering the oath of his own authority,
    even though the credentials be regular in form (I, 135-138). The Speaker
    has frequently declined to administer the oath in cases wherein the
    House has, by its action, indicated that the Speaker should not do so
    (I, 139, 140). And in case of doubt the Speaker has waited the
    instruction of the House (I, 396; VI, 11). There has been discussion as
    to the competency of a Speaker pro tempore to administer the oath (I,
    170), and in the absence of the Speaker a Member-elect waited until the
    Speaker could be present (I, 179), but in 1920 a Speaker pro tempore
    whose designation by the Speaker had been approved by the House,
    administered the

    Sec. 200. Administration of the oath as related
    to the quorum.

      Members-elect  have been sworn at the beginning of a second session
    before the ascertainment of a quorum (I, 176-178), but when the Clerk
    called the second session of the 87th Congress to order, Members-elect
    were not sworn before ascertainment of a quorum and election of Speaker
    McCormack to succeed Speaker Rayburn, who had died during the
    adjournment sine die (Jan. 10, 1962, p. 5). Members-elect have also been
    sworn where a roll call or other ascertainment has shown the absence of
    a quorum (I, 178, 181, 182; VI, 21) but in one instance, however, the
    Speaker declined to administer the oath under such circumstances (II,
    875).

    Sec. 201. Privilege of administration of the
    oath.

      A  proposition to administer the oath is a matter of high privilege
    (VI, 14). It has been administered during a call of the roll and during
    an electronic vote on a motion to agree to rules at the time of
    organization (I, 173; VI, 22; Jan. 4, 2005, p. 46) and during an
    electronic vote taken during House deliberations interlocutory to an
    ongoing joint session to count the electoral votes (Jan. 6, 2005, p.
    242). It also has been administered before the reading of the Journal
    (I, 172), in the absence of a quorum (VI, 22), on Calendar Wednesday
    (VI, 22), before a pending motion to amend the Journal (I, 171), and
    after the previous question has been ordered on a bill reported back to
    the House from the Committee of the Whole (Oct. 3, 1969, p. 28487) or
    pending engrossment and third reading (June 19, 2008, p. _). A division
    being demanded on a resolution seating several claimants, the oath may
    be administered to each as soon as his case is decided (I, 623). If a
    Member-elect whose right to a seat has been determined by the House is
    present to take the oath, the right to be sworn is complete and cannot
    be deferred even by a motion to adjourn (I, 622), but the Speaker has
    entertained the motion to adjourn after adoption of a seating resolution
    but before the Member-elect was present in the Chamber to take the oath
    (May 1, 1985, p. 10019).

    [[Page 87]]

    Sec. 202. Challenge of the right to take the oath.

      The  right
    of a Member-elect to take the oath is sometimes challenged, usually at
    the time of organization of the House. The challenge may be made by a
    Member-elect who has not yet taken the oath (I, 141). The Member
    challenging does so on his responsibility as a Member or on the strength
    of documents (I, 448) or on both (I, 443, 474). And where an objection
    was sustained neither by affidavit nor on the responsibility of the
    Member objecting, the House declined to entertain it (I, 455).

    Sec. 203. Consideration of an objection to the taking of
    the oath.

      It  has been held, although not uniformly, that in cases in
    which the right of a Member-elect to take the oath is challenged, the
    Speaker may direct the Member to stand aside temporarily (I, 143-146,
    474; VI, 9, 174; VIII, 3386). The Member so challenged is not thereby
    deprived of any right (I, 155). Similarly, the seating of a Member-elect
    does not prejudice a pending contest, brought under the Federal
    Contested Elections Act (2 U.S.C. 381-396), over final right to the seat
    (Jan. 7, 1997, p. 120; Jan. 4, 2007, p. 5). When several are challenged
    and stand aside the question is first taken on the Member-elect first
    required to stand aside (I, 147, 148). In 1861 it was held that the
    House might direct contested names to be passed over until the other
    Members-elect had been sworn in (I, 154). Motions and debate are in
    order on the questions involved in a challenge, and in a few cases other
    business has intervened by unanimous consent (I, 149, 150). By unanimous
    consent the consideration of a challenge is sometimes deferred until
    after the completion of the organization (I, 474), and by unanimous
    consent also the House has sometimes proceeded to legislative business
    pending consideration of the right of a Member to be sworn (I, 151,
    152).

    [[Page 88]]

    Sec. 204. Relation of credentials to the right to
    take the oath.

      Although  the House has emphasized the impropriety of swearing a
    Member without credentials (I, 162-168), yet it has been done in cases
    in which the credentials are delayed or lost and there is no doubt of
    the election (I, 85, 176-178; VI, 12, 13), or in which the governor of a
    State has declined to give credentials to a person whose election was
    undoubted and uncontested (I, 553). A certificate of election in due
    form having been filed, the Clerk placed the name of the Member-elect on
    the roll, although he was subsequently advised that a State Supreme
    Court had issued a writ restraining the Secretary of State from issuing
    such certificate (Jan. 3, 1949, p. 8). If the prima facie right is
    contested the Speaker declines to administer the oath (I, 550), but the
    House admits on a prima facie showing, and without regard to final
    right, a Member-elect from a recognized constituency whose credentials
    are in due form and whose qualifications are unquestioned (I, 528-534).
    If the status of the constituency is in doubt, the House usually defers
    the oath (I, 361, 386, 448, 461). In the 99th Congress, the House
    declined to give prima facie effect to a certificate of election, the
    results of the election being in doubt, and referred the issue of
    initial as well as final right to the Committee on House Administration
    (H. Res. 1, Jan. 3, 1985, pp. 380-87). After a recount of the votes was
    conducted by that committee, the House on its recommendation declared
    the candidate without the certificate entitled to the seat (H. Res. 146,
    May 1, 1985, p. 9998). The House also may defer the oath when a question
    of qualifications arises (I, 474), but it may investigate qualifications
    after the oath is taken (I, 156-159, 420, 462, 481), and after
    investigation unseat the Member by majority vote (I, 428).

    Sec. 205. Sanity, loyalty, and incapacity as related
    to the oath.

      Questions  of sanity (I, 441) and loyalty (I, 448) seem to
    pertain to competency to take the oath as a question of qualifications,
    although there has been not a little debate on this subject (I, 479). In
    one case a Member-elect who had not taken the oath was excluded from the
    House because of disloyalty, in which the resolution of exclusion and
    the committee report thereon concluded that he was ineligible to take a
    seat as a Representative under the express provisions of section 3 of
    the 14th amendment (VI, 56-59). This action by the House was cited in
    the Supreme Court decision of Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 545 fn.
    83 (1969), which denied the power of the House to exclude Members-elect
    by a majority vote for other than failure to meet the express
    qualifications stated in the Constitution. In Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S.
    116 (1966), the Supreme Court held that the exclusion by a State
    legislature of a member-elect of that body was unconstitutional, where
    the legislature had asserted the power to judge the sincerity with which
    the Member-elect could take the oath to support the Constitution of the
    United States. In the 97th Congress, the House declared vacant by
    majority vote the seat of a Member-elect unable to take the oath because
    of illness, in which the medical prognosis showed no likelihood of
    improvement to permit the Member-elect to take the oath or assume the
    duties of a Representative (H. Res. 80, Feb. 24, 1981, pp. 2916-18).

    Sec. 206. Decisions of the Court.

      Decisions  of the Supreme
    Court of the United States: McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.)
    316 (1819); Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 333 (1867); Davis v.
    Beason, 133 U.S. 333 (1890); Mormon Church  v. United States, 136 U.S. 1
    (1890).