E-Paper
Did Trump's White House delete sections on foreign gifts, due process from Congress’ Constitution site?
The White House has removed Sections 9 and 10 of the Constitution from the congressional website, which include habeas corpus and judicial review.
The White House removed Sections 9 and 10 of the Constitution from the official congressional website, as per archival searches. These sections deal with habeas corpus and judicial review of wrongful incarceration.
The last two parts of Article I, which contain clauses like habeas corpus, prohibiting the name of nobility titles, and prohibiting foreign emoluments for US officials, were removed from the US Constitutional website maintained by Congress.
What is missing from Congress’ Constitution site?
On July 17, the Internet Archive archived the final complete version of the webpage, which still contained the sections that had been removed. Parts of Article I, Section 8, and all of Article I, Sections 9 and 10, are no longer available on the live site and their summaries are also missing. The Constitution page on the National Archives website still displays the full text of the document.
States' organizing rights (and constraints) are described in Section 10, with a focus on organizing against the federal government. “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
“Does this regime think that by editing the website they can delete these basic rights, or do they just want to make it harder to read about them?” asked ResistBot commenter.
A photograph of George Washington and the message “Page Not Found” will appear to a person who visits the site. A link to the homepage is included along with the notification, “Sorry, the page you're looking for does not exist.”
Reacting to it, one commenter on Blue Sky wrote: “That is not a good sign.”
“I don't have enough variations on 'f——' to express my feelings about this. Please help,” another stated.
What to know about deleted ‘Habeas corpus’
One of the now-deleted clauses on the Constitution site, habeas corpus, enables individuals to contest their detention before a judge. Speaking before a congressional committee in May, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that Trump has the authority to repeal the habeas corpus clause, referring to it as “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.” Trump has stated that he may suspend habeas corpus for ICE detainees.
