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March 8, 2013
from
TheBlaze Website
CIA Director John Brennan at the White House, March 8, 2013. (David Lienemann/White House)
New CIA Director John Brennan on Friday took his oath of office behind closed doors, vowing to uphold and serve the U.S. Constitution. It seems like a very uncontroversial event.
However, Brennan is once again being criticized, this time for a symbolic gesture he made during his swearing in ceremony.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Friday that Brennan was,
Brennan reportedly asked for a document from the National Archives that would adequately,
Pretty cool right?
Well, the only problem, as blogger Marcy Wheeler notes, the document that Brennan used at his swearing in is missing a very important part of the U.S. Constitution that governs the country today - the Bill of Rights.
The vitally important Bill of Rights, which includes freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to bear arms, didn’t go into effect until December of 1791 after ratification by the states.
To be clear, there is certainly no evidence to suggest that Brennan intentionally chose a document that excluded the Bill of Rights. But the irony of the document selection given the current controversy surrounding the federal government’s drone program is noteworthy regardless.
The Bill of Rights includes the right to due process (Fifth Amendment) and the right to trial by jury (Sixth Amendment), both key issues in the heated debate over drone strikes.
The White House and Attorney General Eric Holder both confirmed earlier this week that the executive branch of the U.S. government does not have the authority to carry out a drone strike on a non-combatant American citizen inside the United States.
This admission, of course, came only after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) staged a nearly 13 hour long old-school filibuster to block Brennan’s nomination on Wednesday, repeatedly demanding an answer on the issue.
Other outlets criticized Brennan for not using a Bible at his swearing in. It is unclear at this point whether past CIA directors have used a Bible or whether it is customary for them to do so.
Do you think it matters that Brennan took his oath of office on a draft Constitution that excludes the Bill of Rights?
Using Constitution Lacking Bill of Rights
According to the White House, John Brennan was sworn in as CIA Director on a “first draft” of the Constitution including notations from George Washington, dating to 1787.
That means, when Brennan vowed to protect and defend the Constitution, he was swearing on one that did not include the First, Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Amendments - or any of the other Amendments now included in our Constitution.
The
Bill of Rights did not become part of our
Constitution until 1791, 4 years after the Constitution that Brennan took
his oath on.
And whether he meant to invoke this symbolism or
not, the moment at which Brennan took over the CIA happened to exclude (in
symbolic form, though presumably not legally) the key limits on governmental
power that protect American citizens.
Olivier Knox describes how the White House pushed the symbolism of this:
Update I’m assuming this copy of the Constitution is the one Brennan used:
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