Inauguration (Part I)
As Bartlet prepares for his second inauguration (1) and tries finding the right Bible for the occasion, he considers using the U.S. military to stop genocide in an African country reminiscent of Rwanda (2). Bartlet and others begin questioning the mental health of the Chief Justice of the United States and wonder if it's time for him to step down (3).
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Inauguration (last updated February 4, 2003) (back to top)
Once selected by the electoral college, all that one must do to be inaugurated as President of the United States is to take an oath set forth in the Constitution : "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." The Constitution and federal law require no more.
Nevertheless, a set of traditions has accumulated around the taking of that 35-word oath of office that has made Jan. 20 every four years into a de facto public holiday, a major public address, and one of the most glamorous political fund-raisers.
Presidents are not required to use a Bible for the swearing-in or to say the words "so help me God" after taking the oath, but almost all have followed George Washington's example in doing so. Many, such as Bill Clinton, used family bibles for their swearing-in. At least five presidents (Warren Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush) have used George Washington's own inaugural Bible in some way for their swearing-in. This 1767 King James Bible is owned by the St. John's Lodge No. 1, A.Y.M., Free and Accepted Masons and is normally housed and on public display at the Federal Hall National Memorial in New York, which was where the federal government first met and where Washington was sworn in. The Bible is reportedly now in such fragile condition that no one is allowed to touch it; for George W. Bush's 2001 inauguration, it reportedly rested on a cushion that Chief Justice William Rehnquist held.
And while the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court has administered the oath almost every time since the third inauguration, his role is not required. Calvin Coolidge reportedly had the oath given by his father, a Vermont Justice of the Peace.
Presidents are also not required to give an inaugural address, though this has become in some ways even more the central event of the ceremonies. The average inaugural address is about 2,400 words long and usually covers a wide range of topics. The shortest speech was the first, by George Washington, which came in at 135 words. William Henry Harrison's in 1841 was the longest, clocking in at almost two hours; Harrison died a month later of pneumonia due in no small part to giving his address in one of the coldest inaugural days on record.
Inaugural-day parades have been a part of the inaugural culture since 1889, and balls have been part almost as long. The first official ball was given in 1809, though none were held between 1913 and 1929 or during World War II. There were six balls in 1969, nine bills for the 1985 and 1989 inaugurations, and 11 balls for Bill Clinton's first inauguration in 1993.
Such festivities have turned the inauguration into both an important public event that costs upwards of $20-30 million each time as well as a major fund-raising effort for the party taking or renewing its power in Washington. Jimmy Carter's inauguration in 1977 cost a reported $3.5 million, Ronald Reagan's first inauguration in 1981 cost about $16 million and his second about $20 million, and George H.W. Bush's in 1989 cost about $30 million. Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration cost about $25 million and featured 11 balls; he reportedly raised $33 million in funds that year, and another $23.7 million when inaugurated for a second time in 1997. George W. Bush reportedly raised more than $35 million for his inauguration in 2001.
The inauguration is held on January 20, as dictated by the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (read text here), which was adopted in 1933. Before the change, the inauguration was held on March 4.
By the way, the president's oath is half the length of that said by all other elected or appointed federal officials. The oath for all other elected or appointed federal officials, as required by 5 U.S.C. 3331 rather than the Constitution, is at least 72 words long : "I, [name], do solemnly swear/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."
Sources: Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, edited by Leonard W. Levy and Louis Fisher (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Congressional Quarterly, Selecting the President: From 1789 to 1996 (Congressional Quarterly, Inc. 1997). Leslie Wayne, Big companies picking up tab in inauguration, New York Times, January 18, 2001. The Architect of the Capitol has some information about inaugurals, including about the use of Bibles, on-line here. Emily Gest, New York Daily News, January 19, 2001.
Rwanda (last updated February 5, 2003) (back to top)
One of the worst massacres in modern history unfolded in the central African country Rwanda in 1994, in some part due to the United States' and the international community's failure to act more quickly and decisively. About 800,000 people died from April to July 1994, the result of a planned massacre by members of the majority Hutu tribe against the Tutsi minority, as well as the resulting civil war and social upheaval.
The Clinton administration, already reeling at the time from criticism of U.S. involvement in other countries such as Somalia, resisted calling the events genocide and did not take any immediate action except to safeguard the Americans then in the country. Years later, President Bill Clinton apologized in March 1998 for his handling of the crisis, saying that "we did not do act quickly enough after the killings began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe haven for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide."
Ethnic tensions had been building in Rwanda long before they culminated with the violence of the spring and summer of 1994. One of the most densely populated countries in the world, Rwanda was divided into three ethnic groups : the Hutu (85 percent), the Tutsis (14 percent), and the Twa (about 1 percent). Hutus held power since the 1960s and a Hutu, Juvenal Habyarimana, had been president since a military coup in 1973, but Tutsis who had fled decades earlier still sought to retake the country.
Fighting between Rwanda's army and the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) based in Uganda led to a cease-fire in 1990, and eventually to talks in 1993 that were to result in a democratically-elected government and a broad-based transitional government. The United Nations supported these efforts by sending a small peacekeeping mission of about 2,500 personnel to help the transition.
Nevertheless, these efforts ended in disaster. First, President Habyarimana and Burundi Presidnet Cyprien Ntaryamira died on April 6, 1994 when their plane crashed under mysterious circumstances. Immediately afterwards, the Hutu-led attacks against the Tutsis began. Hutus from Rwanda's armed forces and youth militias hunted down Tutsis with machetes and more advanced weapons, using the radio to coordinate their attacks and to locate Tutsis' hiding locations. Hutus also
Belgium quickly pulled its forces from the UN mission, reducing its size by more than a third. The United Nations' Security Council then decided to withdraw even more personnel from the UN mission, leaving it simply with 270 people to act as an intermediary between the warring factions and to help with humanitarian operations.
Fighting continued until July 1994, when the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front established control over most of the country. By this time, almost half the entire country had been displaced internally; both Hutus and Tutsis had fled for neighboring countries, creating a massive refugee crisis exacerbated by violence within the camps and an outbreak of cholera.
The United Nations slowly sent forces in the summer and fall of 1994 back into Rwanda to help with humanitarian efforts, reaching full strength of about 5,500 personnel in October 1994. The United Nations also established an international tribunal to prosecute persons responsible for genocide; by 2002, more than 80 people had been indicted, and eight had been convicted, including the prime minister at the time.
Critics have long blamed the magnitude of the Rwandan genocide on the international community's failure to act more decisively. Boutros-Boutros Ghali, the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time, said in 1994 that the international community had at least acquiesced in the genocide through its inactions. In 1999, a U.N.-commissioned inquiry concluded that the international community had failed by not providing enough resources and lacking the political will to take action; Secretary General Kofi Annan, who succeeded Boutros-Ghali, acknowledged that the United Nations had failed its obligation to prevent genocide.
"All of us must bitterly regret that we did not do more to prevent it. There was a United Nations force in the country at the time, but it was neither mandated nor equipped for the forceful action which would have been needed to prevent or halt the genocide," Annan said. "On behalf of the United Nations, I acknowledge this failure and express my deep remorse."
Sources: Information about the United Nations' mission in Rwanda, including detailed background on the events of 1994, is on-line here. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is on-line here. President Bill Clinton's March 1998 remarks on Rwanda were quoted in October 1998 remarks by Ambassador David J. Scheffer, on-line here. The State Department's background notes on Rwanda are on-line here. David Halberstam, War in a Time of Peace (Simon & Schuster, Touchstone edition, 2002).
Removing a Justice or Judge (last updated February 6, 2003) (back to top)
All federal judges are appointed for life, and they generally leave office of their own volition. However, a judge can be involuntarily removed from office in one of two ways, both of which are uncommon.
First, a judge can be removed from office if he or she is impeached by the House and then judged by the Senate. A judge, like the President and other federal officials, can be impeached for committing "high crimes and misdemeanors," though what constitutes such an offense is generally considered whatever the House and Senate decide it to be. At least 12 federal judges (and one Supreme Court justice) have been impeached, and at least seven were then removed from office.
Second, under 28 U.S.C. 372(c), a judge can be removed if other judges certify that he or she is disabled and if the President finds that the judge cannot "discharge efficiently all the duties of his office by reason of permanent mental or physical disability and that the appointment is necessary for the efficient dispatch of business."
However, by the way 28 U.S.C. 372(c) is written, it does not apply to justices on the United States Supreme Court, and thus there is no way to force someone off the country's highest court except through impeachment.
In fact, 8 out of the 15 fully-recognized Chief Justices have only left office with their death; the others resigned or retired. John Marshall had the longest term as Chief Justice, serving 34 years in that position; he died in office in 1801. Roger Taney served as Chief Justice until he was 87 years old, again dying while in office.
As for the current Chief Justice, William H. Rehnquist, who began serving as Associate Justice in 1972 and as Chief Justice in 1986, will turn 79 years old on October 1, 2003. He is the second-oldest member of the current bench (Associate Justice John Paul Stevens is four years older), and he is not likely to leave the Supreme Court until he chooses to do so.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was the oldest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, resigning when he was 91 years old and had been in the office for 30 years. Associate Justice William O. Douglas served longer than any other member of the Court, serving 36 years until he retired.
For more on impeachment, go here. For more on the Supreme Court, go here.
Sources: Biographical information on the current bench is available from the Supreme Court's website, on-line here. Henry J. Abraham, Justices, Presidents and Senators (1999, 4th edition). Gerald Gunther and Kathleen M. Sullivan, Constitutional Law (The Foundation Press, Inc., 13th edition, 1997).
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