Has any President of the U.S. ever been charged with violating the oath of office? Hypothetically, if a President in taking the Oath swears to "...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States..." then through his words and actions shows open, blatant contempt for the document, could a citizen file civil or criminal charges against that President after he leaves office?
2007-12-06 05:20:19 · 7 answers · asked by socrates 6 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
According to Cassius (James Sullivan) in The Federalist and Other Constitutional Papers: by Hamilton, Jay, Madison, and Other Statesmen Of Their Time, edited by E. H. Scott, Albert, Scott, and Company, Chicago, 1894 Volume 2 p.498 (Friday, December 21, 1787)
...the following oath or affirmation: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. thus we see that instead of the president's being vested with all the powers of a monarch, as has been asserted, that he is under the immediate control of the constitution, which if he should presume to deviate from, he would be immediately arrested in his career and summoned to answer for his conduct before a federal court where strict justice and equity would undoubtedly abide.
2007-12-06 06:07:23 · answer #1 · answered by David M 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Not going to pretend to be a legal expert on the matter, but I believe impeachment is the same as an indictment.
Once impeached the President would have to be tried, which is before the full house of the senate. If found guilty, I assume any punishment could be handed out.
2007-12-06 05:30:37 · answer #2 · answered by Fester Frump 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, it's legally a 'promise', and promises are not legally enforceable.
If a President violates the law during his term in office, the solution is impeachment.
So when Clinton committed the felonies of perjury and obstruction of justice, the only recourse was to impeach him. Of course, then politics entered the picture, and since all 50 Democratic Senators proved themselves willing to put Party politics above THEIR oaths of office and refuse to hold him accountable, there was no other criminal sanction available.
That doesn't mean there aren't other routes - in Clinton's case, of course, the Arkansas State Bar found that his crimes made him ineligible to continue to be a lawyer, and took away his law license.
Richard
2007-12-06 05:25:19 · answer #3 · answered by rickinnocal 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Yrs in the past while this replaced into somewhat a Christian u . s . a . they even swore in courtroom on a bible and ended with so help me God . yet now that we've fallen extra removed from God they think of they could swear or verify an oath to something .in certainty in case you look back you will see that maximum serious papers the place signed asserting interior the year of our Lord 1886 or what ever date .humorous element is that the bible fortold of the falling away and we nevertheless have slightly extra to bypass.
2016-12-10 14:33:57 · answer #4 · answered by souders 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No that has never been the case. If it were possible then Bill Clinton would be in prison.
George Bush has faithfully upheld the oath of office so he would not be at risk even if it was possible.
2007-12-06 05:33:31 · answer #5 · answered by Dash 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The only recourse is impeachment, which has been done a couple of times, but never successfully.
2007-12-06 05:25:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Bill Clinton! This question is a "moo point"(like the point a cow makes {moo}) OF COURSE NOT lol
2007-12-06 05:24:20 · answer #7 · answered by Mowis 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋