Officer of the United States:
Why neither the President nor Vice President are “Officers of the United States”
What is one and how does a person become one? There is an immense amount of misinformation and disinformation about this as it falls under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment covering disqualification from holding elected or appointed offices in the United States. The lies claiming the President is an "Officer of the United States" have become endless, twisting legal and constitutional definitions into entangled spaghetti bowls of convoluted, alleged logic to justify their predetermined conclusions.
The United States is a Sovereign State with all the internationally recognized powers and responsibilities of a Sovereign State. As a Sovereign State, it is not subject to rule or governance by any other Sovereign State. It is its own entity, entitled to make its own decisions and to act on its own as it sees fit to do so. Should it do something dastardly, such as commit War Crimes, its leadership and those involved in such acts can eventually be held accountable by international standards. As a Sovereign State the United States actually has Dual Sovereignty. Each state within the United States has its own, albeit limited, Sovereignty and Sovereign powers. Primarily under the 10th Amendment, as now limited by Equal Protections portions of the 14th Amendment, those Sovereign Powers not retained by the U.S. Constitution for the Federal Government are Sovereign Powers of each state. Beyond stating that a person can be tried for the same crime in both a Federal and a State Court (big surprise to some defendants) I won’t dive into the Dual Sovereignty further. It's not relevant here.
As a Sovereign State, it has two Sovereigns, a President and a Vice President, with their Sovereign Powers enumerated in Article II of the Constitution. The President, in Section 1, Clause 1, is vested with powers of being the Executive. In other words, the President is the nation’s Head of State. The President’s Oath of Office is specifically enumerated in Section 1, Clause 8, and it is unique. Other Oaths of Office may have some similarity, but they are distinctly different and they are not enumerated in the Constitution.
Article II, Section 2 enumerates their powers. Clause 2 empowers the President to make appointments to various Offices within the Executive Branch and to the Article III Courts, with the Advice and Consent of the U.S. Senate approving them. After enumerating specific Federal Offices, the clause continues with:
“ . . . and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law . . .”
The President appoints “Officers of the United States”, with confirmation of such appointments made by the Senate. This is in keeping with the generally recognized international concept of someone being an “Officer of [fill in name of Sovereign State]”. The Sovereign delegates a portion of his Sovereign Powers to a person appointed to carry them out on his behalf. That delegation is nearly always embodied in a Commission from the Sovereign, or an equivalent document. In addition, that individual is limited to exercising only those Sovereign Powers specifically delegated. Section 3 specifically requires the President to Commission all "Officers of the United States" with a Commission document. This requirement is so there is no confusion or ambiguity as to whether a person is or is not an "Officer of the United States". This is a Magisterial Duty, not a Discretionary one. It is required to be executed. The President and Vice President do not appoint themselves, delegate Sovereign Powers to themselves, or Commission themselves with Sovereign Powers that they already possess as Sovereigns per the Constitution. It would be incongruous, illogical and ludicrous for a Sovereign President to delegate his own Sovereign Powers to himself self-referentially, and issue a Commission to himself as constitutionally required, and taking an additional Commissioning Oath, to act on his own behalf, with the Senate having to confirm it. Thus, neither the President, nor the Vice President are “Officers of the United States” by the definition of what constitutes one in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, and how one becomes an Officer of the United States by Presidential Appointment with “Advice and Consent” of the Senate (i.e. Senate Confirmation). An Officer of the United States attempting to overstep the Sovereign Powers delegated to them is patently illegal, and an excellent way under some circumstances to end up in prison. Both the President and Vice President are "Sovereigns" with "Sovereign Powers" as enumerated, and are not "Officers of the United States".
I am an “Officer of the United States” and will be to the day I die. A Retired Commissioned Officer retains the duties and responsibilities of an Officer of the United States for life, and continues to be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for life. Charges under the UCMJ are exceptionally rare. They’re usually pursued by a Federal Prosecutor in a Federal Court, but a few have been charged and tried under the UCMJ over the years. I repeatedly had the knife and fork training about what is and is not an “Officer of the United States” and the limits of the Sovereign Powers delegated to me by the President to act on his behalf within the Armed Forces (deriving from the President’s Sovereign Power as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces). It was required content in every service school I attended over the years. Warrant Officers (W-1 Grade), Non-Commissioned Officers, and Enlisted Personnel do not have those delegated powers as outlined (primarily) in Title 10 of the United States Code. My Commission delegating those Sovereign Powers to me was issued and signed by the President of the United States. My appointment to each rank was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
One need not consider whether or not January 6th 2021 was a riot or an insurrection, or whether the President incited it, or whether the 14th Amendment is "Self Executing" absent a Congressional Act or a Federal Judicial Judgement. Application of the 14th Amendment to a former President or Vice President fails and is completely mooted by the fact the President and Vice President are Sovereigns, not "Officers of the United States" or any other appointed or elected individual enumerated within the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment. Note that Joe Biden was a U.S. Senator for many years. As such, he is subject to the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment. One could argue endlessly about whether he's disqualified from office, and I won't do that here. It would not be fruitful to the purpose of this posting.
Why neither the President nor Vice President are “Officers of the United States”
What is one and how does a person become one? There is an immense amount of misinformation and disinformation about this as it falls under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment covering disqualification from holding elected or appointed offices in the United States. The lies claiming the President is an "Officer of the United States" have become endless, twisting legal and constitutional definitions into entangled spaghetti bowls of convoluted, alleged logic to justify their predetermined conclusions.
The United States is a Sovereign State with all the internationally recognized powers and responsibilities of a Sovereign State. As a Sovereign State, it is not subject to rule or governance by any other Sovereign State. It is its own entity, entitled to make its own decisions and to act on its own as it sees fit to do so. Should it do something dastardly, such as commit War Crimes, its leadership and those involved in such acts can eventually be held accountable by international standards. As a Sovereign State the United States actually has Dual Sovereignty. Each state within the United States has its own, albeit limited, Sovereignty and Sovereign powers. Primarily under the 10th Amendment, as now limited by Equal Protections portions of the 14th Amendment, those Sovereign Powers not retained by the U.S. Constitution for the Federal Government are Sovereign Powers of each state. Beyond stating that a person can be tried for the same crime in both a Federal and a State Court (big surprise to some defendants) I won’t dive into the Dual Sovereignty further. It's not relevant here.
As a Sovereign State, it has two Sovereigns, a President and a Vice President, with their Sovereign Powers enumerated in Article II of the Constitution. The President, in Section 1, Clause 1, is vested with powers of being the Executive. In other words, the President is the nation’s Head of State. The President’s Oath of Office is specifically enumerated in Section 1, Clause 8, and it is unique. Other Oaths of Office may have some similarity, but they are distinctly different and they are not enumerated in the Constitution.
Article II, Section 2 enumerates their powers. Clause 2 empowers the President to make appointments to various Offices within the Executive Branch and to the Article III Courts, with the Advice and Consent of the U.S. Senate approving them. After enumerating specific Federal Offices, the clause continues with:
“ . . . and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law . . .”
The President appoints “Officers of the United States”, with confirmation of such appointments made by the Senate. This is in keeping with the generally recognized international concept of someone being an “Officer of [fill in name of Sovereign State]”. The Sovereign delegates a portion of his Sovereign Powers to a person appointed to carry them out on his behalf. That delegation is nearly always embodied in a Commission from the Sovereign, or an equivalent document. In addition, that individual is limited to exercising only those Sovereign Powers specifically delegated. Section 3 specifically requires the President to Commission all "Officers of the United States" with a Commission document. This requirement is so there is no confusion or ambiguity as to whether a person is or is not an "Officer of the United States". This is a Magisterial Duty, not a Discretionary one. It is required to be executed. The President and Vice President do not appoint themselves, delegate Sovereign Powers to themselves, or Commission themselves with Sovereign Powers that they already possess as Sovereigns per the Constitution. It would be incongruous, illogical and ludicrous for a Sovereign President to delegate his own Sovereign Powers to himself self-referentially, and issue a Commission to himself as constitutionally required, and taking an additional Commissioning Oath, to act on his own behalf, with the Senate having to confirm it. Thus, neither the President, nor the Vice President are “Officers of the United States” by the definition of what constitutes one in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution, and how one becomes an Officer of the United States by Presidential Appointment with “Advice and Consent” of the Senate (i.e. Senate Confirmation). An Officer of the United States attempting to overstep the Sovereign Powers delegated to them is patently illegal, and an excellent way under some circumstances to end up in prison. Both the President and Vice President are "Sovereigns" with "Sovereign Powers" as enumerated, and are not "Officers of the United States".
I am an “Officer of the United States” and will be to the day I die. A Retired Commissioned Officer retains the duties and responsibilities of an Officer of the United States for life, and continues to be subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for life. Charges under the UCMJ are exceptionally rare. They’re usually pursued by a Federal Prosecutor in a Federal Court, but a few have been charged and tried under the UCMJ over the years. I repeatedly had the knife and fork training about what is and is not an “Officer of the United States” and the limits of the Sovereign Powers delegated to me by the President to act on his behalf within the Armed Forces (deriving from the President’s Sovereign Power as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces). It was required content in every service school I attended over the years. Warrant Officers (W-1 Grade), Non-Commissioned Officers, and Enlisted Personnel do not have those delegated powers as outlined (primarily) in Title 10 of the United States Code. My Commission delegating those Sovereign Powers to me was issued and signed by the President of the United States. My appointment to each rank was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
One need not consider whether or not January 6th 2021 was a riot or an insurrection, or whether the President incited it, or whether the 14th Amendment is "Self Executing" absent a Congressional Act or a Federal Judicial Judgement. Application of the 14th Amendment to a former President or Vice President fails and is completely mooted by the fact the President and Vice President are Sovereigns, not "Officers of the United States" or any other appointed or elected individual enumerated within the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment. Note that Joe Biden was a U.S. Senator for many years. As such, he is subject to the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment. One could argue endlessly about whether he's disqualified from office, and I won't do that here. It would not be fruitful to the purpose of this posting.
