Oath of Honor
On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust.
I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, the community and the agency I serve, so help me God.
- International Association of Chiefs of Police
Oath
I, [name], 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.
5 U.S.C. §3331
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In view of the above information, it causes me to pose a question. Is it Lawful for an officer to uphold a law that is REPUGNANT to the CONSTITUTION? Regardless of what the USURPING politician’s or courts rule? One would hardly think that could possibly be the case, and I can prove my contention;
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I. Natural Rights of the Colonists as Men;
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"Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can. These are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.” - Samuel Adams, Right of The Colonists
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"The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Whenever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction." - St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries
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“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
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"They ought to be restrained Within proper bounds. With respect to the freedom of the press, I need say nothing; for it is hoped that the gentlemen who shall compose Congress will take care to infringe as little as possible the rights of human nature. This will result from their integrity. They should, from prudence, abstain from violating the rights of their constituents. They are not, however, expressly restrained. But whether they will INTERMEDDLE with that PALLADIUM of our liberties or not, I leave you to determine."
- Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention, (06/16/1788)
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"The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic Usurpation of Power by rulers. The Right of the Citizens to Keep and Bear Arms has JUSTLY been considered, as the PALLADIUM of the LIBERTIES of The Republic; since it offers a strong moral check AGAINST the Usurpation and Arbitrary Power of rulers; and will generally...ENABLE the PEOPLE to RESIST and TRIUMPH OVER THEM."
- Joseph Story, Supreme Court Justice, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, p. 3:746-7, 1833
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"Nor does this conclusion by any means suppose a superiority of the judicial to the legislative power. It only supposes that the power of the People is SUPERIOR to both; and that where the will of the legislature, declared in its statutes, stands in OPPOSITION to that of The People, DECLARED IN THE CONSTITUTION, the judges ought to be governed by the LATTER rather than the former. They ought to regulate their decisions by the FUNDAMENTAL LAWS, rather than by those which are NOT fundamental.
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"But in regard to the interfering acts of a superior and subordinate authority, of an original and derivative power, the nature and reason of the thing indicate the converse of that rule as proper to be followed. They teach us that the prior act of a superior ought to be preferred to the subsequent act of an inferior and subordinate authority; and that accordingly, whenever a particular statute contravenes the Constitution, it will be the duty of the judicial tribunals to adhere to the latter and disregard the former."
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"There is yet a further and a weightier reason for the permanency of the judicial offices, which is deducible from the nature of the qualifications they require. It has been frequently remarked, with great propriety, that a voluminous code of laws is one of the inconveniences necessarily connected with the advantages of a free government. To avoid an arbitrary discretion in the courts, it is indispensable that they should be bound down by strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their duty in every particular case that comes before them; and it will readily be conceived from the variety of controversies which grow out of the folly and wickedness of mankind, that the records of those precedents must unavoidably swell to a very considerable bulk, and must demand long and laborious study to acquire a competent knowledge of them. Hence it is, that there can be but few men in the society who will have sufficient skill in the laws to qualify them for the stations of judges. And making the proper deductions for the ordinary depravity of human nature, the number must be still smaller of those who unite the requisite integrity with the requisite knowledge."
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #78
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"The opinion of the Federalist has always been considered as of great authority. It is a complete commentary on our Constitution, and is appealed to by all parties in the questions to which that instrument has given birth..." - The U.S. Supreme Court, Cohens v. Virginia (1821)
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Preamble to the Bill of Rights -"The Conventions of a number of the States having, at the time of adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added, and as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution;"
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"Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States; all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution, namely:"
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Amendment II
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A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
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First Clause, The State Militia;
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DECLARATORY clause: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,"
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Second Clause, The Right of The People;
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RESTRICTIVE clause: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
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"You seem ... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy... The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal."
- Thomas Jefferson, 1820
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"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and this without any qualification as to their condition or degree, as is the case in the British government." - St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries, (Mr. Tucker was part of the Constitutional delegation from Virginia and a respected legal authority).
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"...Again, a large part of the advantages enjoyed by one who has a RIGHT are NOT created by the law. The law does NOT enable me to use or abuse this book which lies before me. That is a physical power which I have without the aid of the law. What the law does is simply to PREVENT other men to a greater or less extent from INTERFEREING with my use or abuse. And this analysis and example APPLY to the case of POSSESSION, as well as to OWNERSHIP."
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"Such being the DIRECT WORKING of the LAW in the case of possession, one would think that the ANIMUS or INTENT most nearly parallel to its movement would be the intent of which we are in search. If what the law does is to EXCLUDE others from INTERFERING with the object, it would seem that the intent which the law should require is an INTENT to EXCLUDE others. I believe that such an INTENT is ALL that Common Law deems needful, and that on PRINCIPLE no more should be REQUIRED." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law - LECTURE VI., POSSESSION. PARA. 27 Sent. 9-13
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"It will be a desirable thing to extinguish from the bosom of EVERY MEMBER of the community, ANY apprehensions that there are those among his countrymen who wish to DEPRIVE them of the LIBERTY for which they VALIANTLY FOUGHT and HONORABLY BLED. And if there are Amendments desired of such a nature as will NOT INJURE the Constitution, and they can be ingrafted so as to give SATISFACTION to the DOUBTING part of OUR FELLOW-CITIZENS, the friends of the Federal Government will evince that SPIRIT of deference and concession for which they have hitherto been distinguished....We ought NOT TO DISREGARD their inclination, but, on PRINCIPLES of amity and moderation, CONFORM to their wishes, and EXPRESSLY DECLARE THE GREAT RIGHTS OF MANKIND SECURED UNDER THIS CONSTITUTION." - James Madison, Debates on the Bill of Rights, House of Representatives, Amendments to the Constitution, (8 June , 21 July , 13 , 18-19 Aug. 1789 Annals 1:424-50, 661-65, 707-17, 757-59, 766 [8 June]).
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"The obstacles to usurpation and the facilities of resistance increase with the increased extent of the state, provided the citizens understand their rights and are disposed to defend them. The natural strength of the people in a large community, in proportion to the artificial strength of the government, is greater than in a small, and of course more competent to a struggle with the attempts of the government to establish a tyranny.
"But in a confederacy the people, without exaggeration, may be said to be entirely the masters of their own fate. Power being almost always the rival of power, the general government will at all times stand ready to check the usurpations of the state governments, and these will have the same disposition towards the general government. The people, by throwing themselves into either scale, will infallibly make it preponderate. If their rights are invaded by either, they can make use of the other as the instrument of redress.
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"How wise will it be in them by cherishing the union to preserve to themselves an advantage which can never be too highly prized!" - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #28
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Don’t know about your honor, but my own tells me that the TRUE law is the one that should RIGHTFULLY be upheld. Especially when it is so clearly defined as a law of nature, God and our Constitution. If I were to uphold a law that is REPUGNANT to the Constitution, that I was sworn to uphold. Than I would be just as guilty as the ones that perverted it to begin with! Two wrongs do NOT make it right! Am I wrong?
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NOTE: Had neglected to reference how this post first came into being. David Codrea at 'The War on Guns' has a post called "Answers for "Blain"" which provided the 'spark' for the above article. David's article and the commentary is well worth a read.
NOTE: Had neglected to reference how this post first came into being. David Codrea at 'The War on Guns' has a post called "Answers for "Blain"" which provided the 'spark' for the above article. David's article and the commentary is well worth a read.
