Oath

The white-haired Bosnian grabbed his certificate of citizenship with two hands, held it over his head and smiled broadly. A South Korean woman bowed. A long-haired woman from Ecuador posed like a beauty queen. They were some of the 40 immigrants (from 31 countries) who took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States on Thursday morning amid camera flashes at the Maryland Historical Society. Part of a Flag Day naturalization ceremony, they renounced loyalties to "any foreign prince" and pledged to "support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

I was always led to believe that Maryland's elected officials, prior to assuming their duties, were required to take an oath, swearing and affirming to uphold all of the laws in effect at the time they take office. By whose authority do they get to pick and choose which laws they will enforce and which laws they will blatantly ignore? If there are laws currently on the books whose purpose it is to prevent or discourage illegal immigration, then these laws need to be strictly enforced, as written, unless and until the time these laws are changed through due process.

(From the Maryland Politics blog) Gov. Martin Joseph O'Malley touched on themes of unity and progress in his inaugural address, delivered this afternoon on the steps of the State House shortly after he was sworn in for a second term. The governor used the word "forward" a dozen times to express his hope that over the next four years the state will see businesses expand, education increase, crime go down, and the environment improve. He urged tolerance and respect.

Inaugurations are more comfortable the second time around. For President Barack Obama and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., it's not likely there will be a repeat in their encore performance of Chief Justice Roberts' flub of the words in the presidential oath mandated by the Constitution. Four years ago, both the president and the chief justice were doing the presidential oath for the first time. In administering the oath, Chief Justice Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully. " The oath is: "I will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States," but Chief Justice Roberts put "faithfully" after "United States," momentarily throwing the about-to-be president off track.

The Manchester Town Council meeting last night was a family affair.Guglielmo Berardelli, 3, and his brother, Pasqualino, 4, came with their mother, Lina, and a grandfather, a grandmother, a great-aunt and a great-uncle to watch their father, artist Mario Berardelli, take the oath of office as a member of the Board of Supervisors of Elections.Later, Mayor Earl A.J. "Tim" Warehime Jr. administered the same oath to his wife, Marianne, a substitute teacher and Carroll County cardiac rescue technician.

WASHINGTON -- Clarence Thomas will not be a full-fledged, lifetime member of the U.S. Supreme Court until he goes through additional steps. Last night's confirmation by the Senate, required by the Constitution, was the first of four required steps.The others:A formal commission, signed by President Bush. That can be done any time after Senate approval.Taking two formal oaths:* The oath required by the Constitution, swearing to "support and defend the Constitution" and to "faithfully discharge the duties of the office."

WASHINGTON -- Clarence Thomas became a full-fledged justice of the Supreme Court yesterday in an unannounced, private oath-taking ceremony that he had requested personally just hours before.Rather than waiting nine days more for a public ceremony that would follow the tradition of the past 50 years, Justice Thomas gained the full powers of a justice when -- with no advance public notice -- he took the judicial oath required by law at 12:05 p.m. yesterday.The court had planned a traditional oath-taking ceremony Nov. 1 and will go ahead with that ceremony, repeating the oath in a ritual that will have no formal legal meaning.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger took the oath as California's 38th governor yesterday, vowing to upend the political culture and humble the special interests through decisive action that would amount to the "Miracle of Sacramento." The audience of 7,500 invited guests, including thousands standing and watching on big-screen televisions, interrupted Schwarzenegger for applause 24 times during the course of his 12-minute inaugural speech, with the loudest ovation coming when he renewed his promise to roll back the state's car tax. Shortly after the 45-minute ceremony on the west steps of the Capitol, the new governor delivered on that promise, issuing Executive Order 1, which repealed the $4 billion increase that had been approved by the man he replaced - Gray Davis.

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's political crisis deepened yesterday as opposition leader Viktor A. Yushchenko amassed legions of demonstrators outside parliament and lay claim to the presidency by taking a symbolic oath of office, warning that civil conflict could ensue if the government intervened. "Ukraine is on the brink of civil conflict," Yushchenko told fellow lawmakers inside parliament shortly before taking his symbolic oath on a 300-year-old Bible. "We have two choices. Either the answer will be given by parliament, or the streets will give an answer."

WASHINGTON -- Bill Clinton took the oath as 42nd president of the United States yesterday in a sunbathed ceremony in front of a sparkling Capitol and proclaimed triumphantly: "A new season of American renewal has begun."In a transfer of power notable for its civility, he saluted a half-century of public service by George Bush, who rode with him up Pennsylvania Avenue for the inaugural ceremony before flying out of Washington and out of politics.Vice President Al Gore having been sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White minutes earlier, control of the nation passed to two sons of the South at noon, when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist administered the presidential oath of office to William Jefferson Clinton.

I notice how positive articles about Sarah Palin seem to really get her critics stirring ("Palin for president? Very funny," Nov. 28). Not only does the comments section seem to be overwhelmed, but letters to the editor surface as well. As a Palin supporter who hopes she runs - and wins - in 2016, let me respond to the usual snark that surfaces. She's not qualified. Compared to whom? Barack Obama was a junior senator from Illinois before running for president. In Alaska, Ms. Palin accomplished everything she set out to do in two-thirds of the time.

The white-haired Bosnian grabbed his certificate of citizenship with two hands, held it over his head and smiled broadly. A South Korean woman bowed. A long-haired woman from Ecuador posed like a beauty queen. They were some of the 40 immigrants (from 31 countries) who took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States on Thursday morning amid camera flashes at the Maryland Historical Society. Part of a Flag Day naturalization ceremony, they renounced loyalties to "any foreign prince" and pledged to "support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

Kenneth O'Donnell, aide to President John F. Kennedy, stepped into a small cubicle at Parkland Hospital, where Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson nervously waited with his wife and several aides to learn the condition of the president. Kennedy had been shot as his motorcade made its way through downtown Dallas on a sun-splashed November autumn afternoon. "He's gone," O'Donnell said to Johnson, who through an assassin's hand had become the 36th president of the United States. It was 1:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, Nov. 22, 1963.

Why are President Barack Obama's ideas, policies and decisions always getting a "recalculating" response from our nation's Constitutional GPS? Where is he trying to take us? As with so many controversial decisions and policies proposed or adopted since the beginning of the Obama administration, why are we constantly reminded that we are "off course" when it comes to our Constitution? Mr. Obama tries to get around "that old piece of paper" by appointing czars with unparalleled authority, increasing government regulations to the point that we are being rendered helpless, and unlawfully using the recess appointment power.

I awoke Monday to news that North Korea's tyrant, Kim Jong Il, is dead ("Kim Jong Il, 1942-2011: Enigmatic leader," Dec. 19). The article in The Sun was part of a confluence of events that include the military hearing at Fort Meade for accused Pentagon whistleblower Bradley Manning and a recent Parade magazine report about the World's Worst Dictators in 2011. The latter article obviously included Mr. Kim as well as Syrian dictator Bashir Assad. It also noted that a number of other autocrats - Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, Libya's Muammar Gadhafi and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia - were banished from their thrones.

Before he went out last Wednesday to arrest 15 of the officers charged in the Majestic towing scandal, the police commissioner of Baltimore attended a morning retirement ceremony. It was for a cop who had had a long and honorable career and who, a few years ago, risked it all to expose some bad police work within the ranks. The farewell for Mike Andrew, who retired as a lieutenant colonel after nearly 38 years of service to the people of this city, took place in the commissioner's board room first thing in the morning.

There were 51 of them in all: an accountant and an advertising executive, a music producer and a minister, a teacher and a theater manager. Among them, they had 33 homelands, from Albania to Ethiopia to Vietnam. Together, they reached the end of a journey yesterday, miniature American flags in hand and dressed in their Independence Day best. And when the man at the podium said, "Repeat after me," they raised their right hands and - to the best of their ability to pronounce the words in English - they did: I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies ... On the Fourth of July, during a morning ceremony at the historic Annapolis home of a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, they became American citizens.

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Inspired by a love of America and a fear of her fickleness toward immigrants, more than 5,000 people from 108 countries raised their right hands yesterday to take the oath of citizenship on a sun-drenched football field here on Long Island. They are part of a historic wave of citizenship seekers whose numbers have quintupled in five years to an anticipated high of 1.8 million this year.Maria Aracelly, 55, who came to the United States from Colombia 26 years ago and toils past midnight most nights vacuuming, dusting and cleaning Manhattan office buildings, said she decided to become a citizen after all these years because of her devotion to this county and her worries about what would become of her if she were disabled by a heart attack.

Gov. Martin O'Malley began his second term Wednesday with a call for unity, tolerance and respect in the face of the challenges confronting the state. "We need each other just as much as the next generation needs us," O'Malley said from a temporary stage built at the steps of the State House after taking the oath of office. "We cannot allow our individual sense of entitlement to tear apart our shared sense of community. " The Democrat highlighted what he called the greatest achievements from his first term, including investments in biotechnology and renewable energy, reductions in homicides and traffic deaths, and steps to protect the Chesapeake Bay. O'Malley used the word "forward" a dozen times as he expressed hope that the next four years would see the state economy grow, crime go down, and education and the environment improve.