Lying Under Oath on Day One: How Congress Can Expose Socialists Who Swear to Defend a Constitution They Openly Oppose

Every two years in early January, 435 members-elect of the United States House of Representatives stand on the House floor, raise their right hands, and recite a solemn 79-word promise.

It is not a ceremonial greeting. Under Article VI, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution and federal statute 5 U.S.C. 3331 every member of Congress, state legislator, and executive officer in America is bound by law to swear an oath before they can touch a single lever of public power.

Listen closely to the exact words of that federal statute:

“I, AB, 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.”

Look at those nine words right in the middle: “without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.”

Now ask yourself a simple, common-sense question. How can a politician spend two years at Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) rallies, on college campuses, and on social media attacking the United States Constitution as an oppressive, illegitimate document that must be dismantled and replaced—and then stand on the floor of the House on Opening Day, raise their right hand, and swear under oath that they will defend that exact Constitution “without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion”?

They can’t. When you swear under oath to support and defend something you have publicly pledged to tear down, there is a plain English phrase for what you are doing in your very first official act in Congress: you are lying under oath.

Ahead of the midterms, Texas Republican Rep. Keith Self and Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett pointed directly to that contradiction. As Rep. Self stated, “You cannot swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution while actively working to destroy it. The oath of office is not just words you say at a ceremony… The House has both the authority and the duty to ensure that anyone who takes that oath does so in good faith, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion”.

Under long-standing House parliamentary precedent, when the Speaker administers the oath of office en masse on Opening Day, any member of Congress can object and ask that a challenged member-elect “stand aside” while the rest of the chamber is sworn in, forcing a debate and vote on a resolution addressing their oath.

Curveball Number One is a pair of 1960s U.S. Supreme Court rulings:

1. Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116 (1966): When the Georgia legislature refused to seat Julian Bond over his anti-war statements—arguing his words proved he could not sincerely take the oath—the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that a legislature cannot exclude an elected official by judging the future sincerity of their oath so long as they are willing to recite the words.

2. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969) Three years later, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that under Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, the House cannot refuse to seat (“exclude”) a duly elected candidate who meets the three standing constitutional qualifications of age, citizenship, and residency.

Curveball Number Two is simple floor math. Every motion on Opening Day is decided by a majority vote of the House. If Democrats hold the gavel—or if weak-kneed establishment Republicans refuse to fight—a motion to deny a seat is tabled in thirty seconds.

That is where weak politicians shrug their shoulders, say “nothing we can do,” and walk away.

But a smart fighter looks at that exact same chessboard and sees something much more powerful.

Even if *Bond v. Floyd* and *Powell v. McCormack* say a radical candidate must be allowed to raise their hand and recite the oath, the Supreme Court never gave any politician immunity from being exposed as a liar the second their hand comes down.

Think about the trap the candidate walks into the moment they insist on taking that oath.

Instead of treating an Opening Day challenge as a procedural attempt to block a seat that will get overturned in court, constitutional conservatives in Congress can use the House floor—and every committee room that follows—to establish as an undeniable, on-the-record fact that this incoming member is lying under oath to defend a Constitution they openly oppose.

Here is how Congressmen with a spine can spring that trap on Day One:

First, Enter the Candidate’s Anti-Constitutional Record Into the Congressional Record Before the Oath Is Administered. When a member-elect who has pledged allegiance to the DSA platform or called for abolishing constitutional protections steps forward, a Congressman rises on a point of order or question of privilege. They don’t make vague accusations. They read the candidate’s exact, dated words—calling for the dismantling of the Constitution, the abolition of private property, or the gutting of the First and Second Amendments—straight into the permanent Congressional Record alongside the exact text of 5 U.S.C. 3331.

Second, Force the Binary Choice on National Television. Before the oath is taken, challenge the member-elect on the floor of the House with a single inescapable question: “To take the oath under 5 U.S.C. 3331 without lying under oath, you must swear that you have ‘no mental reservation or purpose of evasion’ about defending the U.S. Constitution. Will you stand at that microphone right now and renounce your previous statements opposing the Constitution, or are you about to swear a false oath before God and the American people?”

Look at the box that creates.

If the candidate steps up to the microphone and renounces their socialist platform to save face, they humiliate themselves in front of the radical activist base that elected them.

If they refuse to renounce their anti-constitutional platform—and raise their right hand anyway—then the trap snaps shut. From that second forward, they are no longer just a politician with radical opinions. By their own documented words, they have just stood on the floor of the House and lied under oath.

Third, Force Every Colleague in Their Party to Own the Lie. When House leadership moves to table the objection and seat the member anyway, demand a recorded roll-call vote. Force every single “moderate” swing-district member of their party to go on the permanent voting record certifying that lying under oath under 5 U.S.C. 3331 is acceptable in the United States Congress. And every time that radical member introduces a bill, sits on a committee, or questions a witness for the next two years, remind the cameras and the voters in their district of a simple fact: this member’s very first act in Washington was swearing a false oath to defend a Constitution they are actively working to destroy.

You don’t need a Supreme Court miracle to expose a fraud. When a candidate openly opposes the Constitution of the United States, let Congress put their exact words on the giant screen, hold up the text of 5 U.S.C. 3331, and force the entire country to watch them lie under oath on Day One.