The debt clause in the 14th does not grant a presidential power [View All]

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is easy to look up.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment14/

The first clauses guarantee equal rights for all citizens under the law in the aftermath of the Civil War. The first sentence of the fourth clause, which some people now imagine is relevant to the current debt ceiling struggle, only makes a general statement that US debt will not be questioned, but does not confer a power either to the president or to another branch of government.



In historical context, this isn't actually about United States debt. It's about Confederate debt. It says that the US renounces the rebel states' debts, but prefaces this (in the bolded sentence) with the assurance that no one should worry that this has anything to do with US debt. Again, no specific power to raise the debt ceiling (which is legislated, not constitutional) is either implied or granted to the president or anyone else.

Even if an attempt can be made to invoke the first sentence as implying a unilateral or emergency authority to raise the debt ceiling, lest the credit of the United States "be questioned," the White House (again conceding in advance) has already said they don't think the 14th gives the president that power. So it would be an unprecedented and risky move, probably reckless, given the makeup of the Roberts Court and the now existing videotape of Carney saying the White House doesn't believe the 14th amendment is relevant.

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