Court Opinion

ID: 9692451
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:54:32.990619+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:28:00.422487
License: Public Domain

INGRAHAM, Circuit Judge
(dissenting) :
I agree with my brothers that that part of the oath which reads “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of Texas” is constitutional, but dissent from their holding that all of the remainder of the Texas oath under attack is constitutionally impermissible.
The concept of the requirement of an oath of one charged with public duty is deeply rooted in our tradition and history. The original draft of the Constitution itself requires oaths. Art. II, Sec. 1 of the Constitution requires a specific oath (or affirmation) before the President can enter upon the execution of his office. And by the express terms of the Constitution, Art. VI, Clause 3, an oath is required of Senators and Representatives and of members of the several State Legislatures and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United *1139States and of the several States to support the Constitution. This requirement is quoted in full in the opinion of the majority which renders it unnecessary to be repeated here. But Art. VI does not require that such officers of the United States and of the several States take the oath there required and none other. The requirements of Art. VI are not unlimited. The framers did consider prohibitions. They provided a prohibition against a religious test in an oath or affirmation, but they saw fit not to provide other prohibitions.
Before entering upon our judicial duties, my brothers and I each took the oath required by Title 28, Sec. 453, United States Code. This oath is not limited to the bare requirement of Art. VI that we support the Constitution. It does respect the prohibition against a religious test.
I do not find the Texas oath under attack to be in conflict with that part of the oath of which my brothers approve and the Constitution expressly requires. If the Texas oath is subject to any fault, it is of redundance. I find no conflict with that part of the oath that reads “do solemnly swear that I believe in and approve of our present representative form of government, ... I will support and defend our present representative form of government and I will resist any effort or movement from any source which seeks to subvert or destroy the same or any part thereof.” It is but another way of saying “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and of the State of Texas.” Our Constitution gives us a representative form of government, and to swear a belief in our present representative form of government and to support and defend it and to resist efforts or movements which seek to subvert or destroy it is but another way of swearing to support and defend the Constitution. If it is not, the oath to support and defend the Constitution is empty. Its redundance is akin to the language of a general warranty deed that reads “grant, sell and convey,” or of a contract that reads “promise and agree.” Nor do I find it chilling on political beliefs.
An oath to support and defend our present representative form of government is not a rigid one because our present representative form of government is flexible, fluid and subject to change. Our Constitution, by its express terms, provides for amendment. The procedures for amendment are well known. The Constitution has been amended many times. It has been amended and unamended. And we can expect that it will be amended in the future to express the changing will of the people brought on by changing conditions. And our representative government changes with ’ each biennial congressional election and with congressional reapportionment which the Constitution itself requires each decade.
The Supreme Court in a recent case, Cole v. Richardson, 405 U.S. 676, 92 S.Ct. 1332, 31 L.Ed.2d 593 (1972), upheld the constitutionality of a Massachusetts statute requiring an oath of all public employees. The Massachusetts oath there under attack is very similar to the Texas oath here and now under attack. It reads:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and that I will oppose the overthrow of the government of the United States of America or of this Commonwealth by force, violence, or by any illegal or unconstitutional method.”
Respectfully dissenting, I would hold that the Texas oath under attack, as in Cole, is constitutionally permissible, that plaintiffs’ complaint is without merit and would dismiss it.