Honor the full oath

The outcome of the second Impeachment Trial of President Trump proves that Senate Republicans are unsure of the meaning of their oath to “preserve and protect the Constitution … from enemies foreign and domestic.” To refresh their memory, they should read the expanded oath ordered by President Lincoln during the Civil War and mandatory for senators beginning in 1864. That oath added this before the oath sworn today:

I, ____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto.

Given this further description of domestic threats Lincoln thought necessary to protect against, it’s hard to believe Republican Senators voted no after the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and that former President Trump, and many of them, can truthfully swear to the oath of office ever again.

Sterling Leibenguth

Spokane