Oaths

Congress may require no other oath of fidelity to the Constitution, but it may add to this oath such other oath of office as its wisdom may require.1 It may not, however, prescribe a test oath as a qualification for holding office, such an act being in effect an ex post facto law,2 and the same rule holds in the case of the states.3

Oaths and the U.S. Constitution

Resources

See Also

References

This text about Oaths is based on “The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation”, published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Notes

[Footnote 1] McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 416 (1819).

[Footnote 2] Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 333, 337 (1867).

[Footnote 3] Cummings v. Missouri, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 277, 323 (1867). See also Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116 (1966), in which the Supreme Court held that antiwar statements made by a newly elected member of the Georgia House of Representatives were not inconsistent with the oath of office to support to the United States Constitution.