The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

The Evasion of Duties and Responsibilities

Before entering an elected or appointed office in the Federal government, each person must take the following Oath of Office:

“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.”
- Presidential Oath of Office

"I do solemnly swear 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 I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
- Vice Presidential Oath of Office

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; 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.
- Senate and House Oath of Office

"I, [NAME], 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 [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.''
- Supreme Court Justices Oath of Office

“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.”
- An individual, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services Oath of Office

It is also true that many State and Local government officials take Oaths of Office to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States. Therefore, the Constitution reigns supreme in all Federal, State, and Local governmental actions.

Consequently, all three branches of the Federal Government, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches have as their primary duties and responsibilities in the upholding of the Constitution of the United States. As each branch is co-equal, they all have a co-equal duty and responsibility to the Constitution. Part of their duties and responsibilities is for each branch to limit their duties and responsibilities to those domains for which they are responsible; the Legislature Branch for the creation of laws, the Executive Branch for the enforcement of laws, and the Judicial Branch for the adjudication of the laws.

The Founding Fathers created a republican form of government with limited and enumerated powers, a separation of powers, and checks and balances of these powers. They did this as they knew that governments tended to accrue power unto themselves, and they, therefore, created a form of government to prevent abuses of government powers upon the people to preserve the people's Freedoms and Liberties. However, when each branch of government evading some of their duties and responsibilities by the allocation of these duties and responsibilities to the other branches of government, we have broken down these limited and enumerated powers, separation of powers, and the checks and balances of these powers. A breaking down that has allowed for more powers to accrue to the government.

For most of the 20^th century and into the 21^st century, each branch of government has evaded some of their duties and responsibilities by shifting their duties and responsibilities to the other branches of government. When Congress allocates the creation of rules and regulations to the Executive Branch, when the Executive Branch implements these rules and regulations without Congressional approval, and when the Judiciary allows this to happen, all three branches are evading their duties and responsibilities to the Constitution and violating their Oath of Office. When Congress passes laws outside of their enumerated powers (see my article on “Limited and Enumerated Powers”), when the Executive does not veto these laws and, indeed, implements these laws, and when the Judiciary allows these laws and their implementation than all three branches are evading their duties and responsibilities to the Constitution. When the Executive branch stretches the law beyond their meaning and intent to fit a political agenda, or creates Executive Orders that are outside of the bounds of executive duties and responsibilities, or enters into consent agreements with aggrieved parties, all without Congressional approval, and when the Judiciary allows for this to happen, or Congress does not step in and end these actions, then all three branches are evading their duties and responsibilities to the Constitution. Congress creates independent agencies to administer a law, which are contrary to the Constitutions allocation of the responsibility to execute the laws to the Executive Branch, when the Executive branch does not veto these Independent Agencies, and when the Judicial Branch allows these Independent Agencies to exist, then all three branches have evaded their duties and responsibilities. These are some of the most egregious examples, but there are many more examples of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of evading their duties and responsibilities to the Constitution.

In all the above evasions of duties and responsibilities by the Legislative and Executive branch, they are done for the purposes of obtaining a goal for political gain and electioneering. The Judicial branch often refuses to become involved or skirts the Constitutional issues by convoluted reasoning (see my article on “Judges, Not Lords”), for the purposes of ‘being nonpolitical’, or ‘social justice’ (see my Chip of “05/08/20 Social Justice”), or ‘preserving the integrity of the courts’. For all these reasons, all three branches are evading their Oaths of Office to Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution. In doing so, they often impinge on the Freedoms and Liberties of Americans.

It has been said that the people are ultimately responsible for allowing this situation. The people elect their representatives and President, who then appoint Officers and Justices and Judges, all of whom then evaded some of their duties and responsibilities by shifting them to the other branches of government. While it is true that the people bear ultimate responsibility, it is difficult for the people to hold their elective representatives accountable as this evasion also blurs responsibility. This blurring of responsibility makes it much harder for the people to distinguish who is responsible, and therefore, who should or should not be elected or appointed that would engage in this evasion. The Founding Fathers were cognizant of that this may occur, and they relied on the Oaths of Office and the officeholder to be obedient to their oath. Today, however, oaths carry little weight with many of our elected officials, appointed officers, and Justices and Judges. They are more concerned with achieving a desirable goal than with upholding their Oath of Office. Much of their time and efforts seem to be in finding ways to skirt the Constitution instead of upholding the Constitutional ideals and principles. Many times, they reinterpret the words, phrases, intentions, and purposes of the Constitution to achieve their goals. This evasion of their duties and responsibilities make it easier to skirt the Constitution to achieve their goals.

Given today’s political climate, I do not expect the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches to take many actions to correct this situation, as they often desire to be rulers rather than leaders (see my article on, “To Be Rulers or to Be Leaders”). However, I do expect the Supreme Court to correct these situations as they bear the ultimate duty and responsibility to preserve the integrity of the Constitution. Their failure to do so is a sad commentary on the Supreme Court, and they should remember that their duties and responsibilities are only to the Constitution. The Supreme Court should not skirt or decide any Constitutional issues for the reasons of ‘being nonpolitical’ or ‘social justice’, and they should remember that the best way to ‘preserve the integrity of the courts’ is to preserve the integrity of the Constitution.

This evasion of the duties and responsibilities to the other branches of government needs to be addressed to preserve our “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All” . Let us recall that as the Founding Fathers were departing the Pennsylvania State House at the close of the Constitutional Convention, one of the bystanders shouted a question to Benjamin Franklin:

Bystander - “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Franklin - “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Let us hope that we can keep it.