Posted by
Always To The Right on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 2:09:23 PM
Experts: Obama should re-take the oath
Several constitutional lawyers said President Obama should, just to be
safe, retake the oath of office that was flubbed by Chief Justice John
Roberts.
The courts would probably never hear a challenge, and some might argue
that Obama automatically took office at noon because that's when
President Bush left the office. But because the procedure is so
explicitly prescribed in the Constitution, Beermann said if he were
Obama's lawyer, he would recommend retaking it, just as two previous
presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur, did under similar
circumstances.
"He should probably go ahead and take the oath again," Turley said. "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. I
don't think it's necessary, and it's not a constitutional crisis. This
is the chief justice's version of a wardrobe malfunction."