Senior members of the three branches of government will come together in a rare display of national unity and tradition when the president and vice president take the oath of office at the inauguration on Monday. Starters, and perhaps funny hats, will be indispensable parts of the festivities.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh will continue a nearly 240-year-old tradition of swearing in the oath President-elect Trump And his number is 2 J.D. Vance. The seven other members of the Supreme Court are expected to attend the event in the Capitol Rotunda, all wearing their judicial robes.
Whatever political differences may exist, they will certainly not be on display at these most cordial and dignified celebrations. After all, the first person a president thanks is likely to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court. But there is still an undercurrent of tension.
During his first run for high office in 2016, candidate Trump took the unusual step of attacking a member of the federal judiciary, calling Roberts an “absolute disaster” among other personal insults. This will be the fifth time that the “President” takes the constitutional oath, and his second with Trump.
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President-elect Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on Monday. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Kavanaugh's choice was not surprising: Incoming second lady Osha Vance clerked for Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the US Court of Appeals in Washington.
She then moved on to a prestigious position as a law clerk at the Supreme Court with Roberts. Sources say Kavanaugh gave a particularly strong recommendation for the job of Osha Vance to his current colleague.
In an August interview on “Fox & Friends,” Osha Vance said Kavanaugh was a “good president” and a “decent person” who “hired people from all over the political spectrum.”
She added: “My experience working with him was very positive.”
Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Clarence Thomas are among the recent justices who have similarly honored the vice president.
While chief justices typically administer the oath of office to the president, a broader mix of officials assume the duties of the vice president. Then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert swore in Vice President Dick Cheney in 2005.
Thomas received honors when Mike Pence He was sworn in in 2017 as vice president during Trump's first term.
Trump sworn in to move indoors due to cold weather, source tells FOX NEWS
Serve justice
Article VI of the Constitution requires executive officers, including the president, as well as members of Congress and federal judges, to “abide by oath or affirmation,” but nothing requires a Supreme Court justice to administer them. When it comes to presidential inaugurations, most of the time they do.
There was not yet a Supreme Court when George Washington was first sworn in in 1789, so New York's highest-ranking justice performed the honors at Federal Hall on Wall Street. Four years later, Associate Justice William Cushing was sworn in in Washington for a second term, beginning a Supreme Court tradition.
Early swearing-in usually takes place in the House or Senate. The 1817 inaugural ceremony was held outdoors for the first time when James Monroe was sworn in in front of the Old Capitol, where the legislature had temporarily met after invading British forces burned the original Capitol in the War of 1812. The site is now occupied by supreme courtwhich opened its building in 1935.
The man who held these duties more than 200 years ago was John Marshall, widely known as the most influential chief justice in US history. He participated in nine sections, from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson. For Roberts, this will be his fifth.
The Constitution specifies the exact language to be used in the 34-word oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of President of the United States, and to the best of my ability.” and to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Many judges have commented on four little words, “So help me, God.” It is not legally or constitutionally required, unlike other federal sections that call for words as standard procedure. Historians have been at odds over whether President Washington set a precedent by adding the phrase on his own during his first admission, but contemporary accounts make no mention of such a lie.
Abraham Lincoln is said to have said this spontaneously in 1861, and other presidents have followed suit over the years. Traditionally, a Bible is used, with the president placing one hand on it while raising the other while taking the oath.
The 16th President and Chief Justice Roger Taney shared mutual hostility. When the oath was administered a few days before the outbreak of the Civil War, many in attendance noted the listless behavior the two men showed to each other, as befitted the late winter cold. Several historians have said that later that year Lincoln secretly issued an arrest warrant for Taney, who had tried to prevent the president's suspension of habeas corpus during the conflict. The note was never delivered.
President Barack Obama The Lincoln Bible was used in both sections.
Trump is expected to once again use the Lincoln Bible and the Family Bible.
Donald Trump takes the oath of office while placing his hand on a Bible in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2017. (Andrew Harrier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Official photos of Trump and Vance were released ahead of the inauguration
Get it right
Roberts, who took his first presidential oath in 2009, deviated slightly from the script, which led to it being reused for security purposes the next day, at a private White House ceremony.
The January 20 celebrations at the Capitol also lasted so long that the presidential oath of office was not completed until five minutes after noon. However, Obama, under the 20th Amendment, officially assumed the presidency at noon.
At the time, Michael Newdow, an atheist from California, objected and went to federal court to block Roberts from urging Obama to repeat the phrase “God help me.” Newdow, along with several non-religious groups, said the words violate the constitutional prohibition on the government's “endorsement” of religion.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit, and no such legal challenges are expected this time.
Four years later, Justice Sonia Sotomayor swore in Biden for a second term as vice president in 2013. Vice President Harris asked her to do the honor again, with the first female vice president noting the fact that both women had served as government prosecutors.
Use a penny Family Bible “It's a very humbling thing for me,” the late President Ronald Reagan told Fox News at the time. “We approach it with prayer, but with deep, profound gratitude to the President-elect for his trust and deep gratitude in the American people.” “.
Trump also broke tradition by not attending the swearing-in of his successor four years ago.
Lyndon Johnson's swearing-in since 1965 was a break from tradition. His wife, Claudia – known as Lady Bird – carried the Bible, a job previously held by the clerk of the Supreme Court. The couple has since held the honor, and Melania Trump and Osha Vance are expected to continue in the role.
Hopefully, the tension will not lead to a repeat of 1941, when then-employee Elmore Cropley dropped the Bible after Franklin Roosevelt was sworn in to begin his third presidential term.
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What to wear and what to say
At an inauguration, it is not usually difficult to spot the justices, who are usually shielded from the eyes of the wider public in a court where cameras are obscured. They are announced as a group, arrive dressed in their black robes — typically covering bulky winter coats — and are given prominent seats on a specially built platform on the Capitol's west facade.
Before Marshall took over the court in 1801, justices wore red robes with fur trim and white wigs in all public places. His practice of wearing a simple black silk robe without a wig remains the American judicial standard.
And if there is any doubt about their identities, look out for some of the unusual headgear that many of the judges may be wearing. The large black “skulls” have no edges and can be made of wool, silk, or even nylon. Perhaps to keep them from looking like a yarmulke, the hats are usually folded up, which one federal judge privately told Fox News made it look like he was wearing a dirty bandana.
Since the inauguration will be held indoors this year due to expected cold weather, the hood may be an afterthought.
Donald Trump is sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts on January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
They have been around in British courts since the 16th century, and at least a century in the United Kingdom US. It is worn only by judges, and only at official ceremonies, not in court.
Official records are unclear on the hats, but Chief Justice Edward White proudly wore one in 1913 when Woodrow Wilson became president. The “bonnet era” reached its peak in 1961 when seven of the nine justices wore them to President John F. Kennedy’s frigid inauguration.
Last time, now-retired Justice Stephen Breyer was the only one brave enough to wear one, although Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and the late Antonin Scalia had previously worn them. None of the six current or former female judges have used it.
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Scalia told an audience a few years ago why he favored the bonnet. “If you've ever watched an inauguration, you'll see me wearing the old hats that the justices used to wear. It's a silly-looking hat, but it's a tradition. Yes, it's silly-looking.”
Scalia's headdresses were a replica of those worn by St. Thomas More, a gift from the St. Thomas More Society of Richmond, Virginia
The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist also wore it, which is not surprising, given his role as an unofficial chronicler of the court's procedures and traditions.
He made one of the most dramatic appearances in the history of his inauguration while suffering from thyroid cancer in 2005. There was speculation that he would be too ill to attend, but he assured officials that he would be there, and kept his word.
After three months away from the public eye while receiving chemotherapy, the ailing 81-year-old president was shortly introduced to the public. President George W. Bush It was to take the oath. Using a cane, Rehnquist slowly walked to the podium unaided — wearing a dark baseball cap — and paid homage. His voice was clear but raspy, due to the tracheostomy tube in his throat, which was hidden by a scarf.
Afterward, Rehnquist wished Bush good luck, and then was quickly escorted out of the cold.
Rehnquist also swore in President Bill Clinton eight years ago. Unbeknownst to Clinton or the public, the justices had days earlier held a private vote in Clinton v. Jones. Their ruling said the president could not refuse to testify in an ongoing civil lawsuit against him brought by Paula Jones, who alleged she was sexually harassed. This set in motion a chain of events that led to Clinton's 1999 impeachment trial in the US Senate, which Rehnquist himself presided over, minus the hood.
