Edit: as pointed out in a comment below, the official cause is coding error
Compare with the original, from a few weeks back
Half of section 8, governing Congressional power over the military is removed.
Section 9 had, among other things:
- Habeas Corpus the right to get a court hearing instead of arbitrary imprisonment
- a ban on foreign emoluments for the US officials (eg: payments from foreign governments)
Section 10 reserved foreign policy for the federal government instead of the states.
Technically this should be removed as it’s not a news article discussing the edit, but it’s important enough that I’ll leave it for now.
Full text here:
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/full-text
(Removed sections in bold)
Section 8: Powers of Congress
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings;-And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Section 9: Powers Denied Congress
The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.
The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
Section 10: Powers Denied to the States
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.
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.
I just emailed 404 Media about this.
I contacted my representatives. They’ll make some noise, if nothing else.
Same. We’ll see if they read my essay of a message.
What is whatever this is, called? It’s not technically “amending”…has it ever been done before??
Lying?
Redaction?
This is classic Ministry Of Truth tactics, it goes under many names but always exists in authoritarian society, what you recall and what you know isn’t relevant, what the state says is the truth is the only truth.
A coup
Typically Hanlon’s razor (“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”) is best to live by, but honestly what in the fuck else could cause this other than malice?
We’re approaching a time in this country that is really scaring me, and I just hope everyone has enough food, water, medical supplies, weapons/ammo, and community to get through what’s coming. Trump is setting tinder boxes all over the country and trying to provoke a violent response so he can send in martial law, and all (minus like 2) Republicans in the House, Senate, and Supreme Court support this.
Fascists only understand one language.
Doesn’t matter if it’s malice or incompetence, this shit should not happen in a sane country
Of course, but the motivation will influence what the response should be.
All they did is edit the copy on the Congressional website, it has no legal authority. The Constitution is still the Constitution.
The only way to make the change actually have merit is to either go through the Amendment process or have another Constitutional Convention and re-write the whole thing…
Which they ARE trying to do BTW:
Thanks, that’s what I misunderstood. I was thinking it was something more.
Or they could write and enforce unconstitutional laws with the complicity of a corrupt SCOTUS. I feel like that’s a possibility.
Isn’t this just an incomplete copy of the constitution? Changing a website doesn’t change the law.
How wrong can I be?
The most logical take is that this was an error committed by some employee. This is an administration is staffed with incompetence.
My more conspiratorial take is that this was done to muddy the waters for lay people. Judges, lawyers, legal and constitutional scholars would know that the missing sections still apply. The general public? That’s a different story. The general public doesn’t know what needs to be amend the Constitution nor what is contained in it.
The average person will go to an official government website to check the Constitution and all the changes made. The thought process for the average person will be “I guess they amended the Constitution.”
When judges, lawyers, and other experts start to say “No, the Constitution hasn’t been changed and these rights still apply.” The Government will push the message of “Don’t listen to these experts, listen to us.” Get a substantial minority of people to believe the Government’s message, viola! Problems for all!*
Case in point, sovereign citizens and how sheriffs are the only real law enforcement. These people believe absolute bull shit legal theories. Imagine when you have the Government backing the theory of “the rights were amended out of the Constitution” or what crack brained shit the Government comes up with.
*Just no problems for the authoritarian government.
Picked up by engadget and this thread was specifically called out.
Lemmy mentioned!
So?
-People who defend MASS SCHOOL SHOOTERS because of the Second Amendment!
Hell, they defend pedophiles too. Backwards country full of yokels
So individual states can now legally build armies and go to war with the backing of foreign powers? Am I reading this right?
Also, habeas corpus is gone?
I am calling dibs on Finland and moving north to one of the snowy states. Come at us fuckers. I dare everyone to come at us.
I just threw that whole page into multiple archive sites, so when they revert it later and claim nothing happened, there’s still a log.
There’s also a ton of booklet copies everywhere.
I didn’t mean making copies of the legit version, I meant a copy of this modified fascist version. Since TACO I’m assuming it will get reverted soon and we’ll get gaslit.
For a non US and non Lawyer. What exactly does this mean? What safefuards does this remove?
It has no real impact other than on people sourcing this web page for accurate information.
The Constitution is still a founding document and changes to the text on a web page have no actual impact on it as written.
The lack of standardization and the confusion would be the point. Get enough confusion to get the people who would enforce it clamoring over the right order and way to do it and then you can bully your way past it while they squabble.
What matters is how we enforce our rules in the current and that doesnt matter what a document does or does not say but how people act.
Thank you! Hopefully it stays that way
So the constitution is the foundational legal document in the US, determining the powers of each part of government. If they actually stripped out these parts, it would mean no oversight over the military for Congress, no right to go to court to contest an unjust imprisonment, and no restrictions on payments by foreign governments to US officials among other things.
It was either a coding error, as the Library of Congress is saying or a really ham-handed way to announce an additional step towards dictatorship, which are now being walked back as too outrageous.
Thanks for the thorough explanation! I’m wishing you all the best from across the Pond, I sadly think you have some really hard years ahead of you.
Internet archives about to get unreliable.
https://tech.yahoo.com/general/articles/internet-archive-now-official-us-123036550.html
First delete it from the website. Then delete it from the internet history.
Then say it’s all gaslighting.
That doesn’t give the government any power to control the contents of the Internet archive or any other library.
OK that’s a solid wtf. I bet even my raging originalist-boner friends and family are not cool with this.
They’ll tell you it’s fake
“What the founding fathers wanted.”
Who cares what those slave-owning genocide fantasists wanted.
I get your point but I think they were making a /s kinda comment
Update from the Library of Congress says they’ll fix it and gave a weak excuse, for now they’ve added a banner to the website saying its not accurate
At least they are not doubling down
https://bsky.app/profile/librarycongress.bsky.social/post/3lvqilhwb6k2x
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me a thousand times while I gargle Trump’s balls, call me MAGA.
Does sound suss. Guess it’s easier to rewrite in the shadows.
Are you serious? Suss? In the shadows?
It’s happening before your very eyes. It has been rewritten. The official version, published on the website of Congress, has been altered without going through any democratic or even bureaucratic channel
What do you mean “rewrite?” Oceania’s always been at war with Eurasia.
Edit: Change grammar for not goodness.
Time to organize and resist