The standard

What they swore

Every register on this site rests on the same premise: that the people in it swore an oath and then acted against it. This page is the other half of that claim. These are the oaths, in the words of the Constitution and the United States Code, so that a reader can hold the conduct against the undertaking rather than against anyone's opinion of it.

Four of these five contain the same clause — a promise to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. It is marked wherever it appears. The word "domestic" is doing deliberate work: the drafters of the 1862 oath had just watched the danger come from inside, and every officer, every member of Congress and every enlisted soldier since has sworn against that possibility by name.

Members of Congress, the Vice President, and every federal officer and enlisted member

5 U.S.C. § 3331

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 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.

The general oath of office. The statute applies it to everyone elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or the uniformed services — and says, in terms, "except the President".

The President of the United States

U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 8

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

THE EXCEPTION. The President is the one officer whose oath is written in the Constitution itself, and the only one that does not contain the clause about enemies foreign and domestic. It is also the shortest. What it does require is that the office be faithfully executed and the Constitution preserved, protected and defended.

Justices of the Supreme Court and all federal judges

28 U.S.C. § 453

I, ___ ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as ___ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.

The judicial oath. Justices take this one in addition to the general oath above, so they swear the foreign-and-domestic clause too — twice sworn, to impartiality and to the Constitution both.

Enlisted members of the armed forces

10 U.S.C. § 502

I, _____, 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 allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

The enlistment oath. Note the order of the promises: the Constitution first, the orders of the President second, and those orders only "according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice".

Commissioned officers of the armed forces

5 U.S.C. § 3331, as administered on commissioning

I, _____, having been appointed an officer in the _____ of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____, 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 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 upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.

The officer's oath is the general oath of office. An officer swears to the Constitution and — unlike the enlisted oath — makes no promise of obedience to the President at all.

The text above is reproduced from the Constitution and the United States Code and is not translated anywhere on this site, in any language. An oath rendered into other words is a description of an oath. These are the words.