The Debt Ceiling

Last week, members of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Congress spoke about encouraging the President Barrack Obama to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling by invoking the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Not only that, but there have been academia who have interpreted the 14th Amendment to empower the President to take this action. This course of action is absurd and undoubtedly unconstitutional.

The 14th Amendment contains five different sections. Sections four and five are the only relevant sections to this issue. Section Four states "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law...shall not be questioned." There's more to this particular section but it is unnecessary to present it all. There is nothing stated in this section that could reasonably be interpreted as empowering the President of the United States to raise a debt limit ceiling. Furthermore, all this section does is legitimize the debt incurred by the Government of the United States.

Section Five of the 14th Amendment puts the nail in the coffin. It states "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." So how does the President have the power to raise the debt ceiling? He doesn't. It clearly states that Congress is empowered to enforce the 14th Amendment.

Clearly the 14th Amendment does not empower the President to raise the debt ceiling. Thankfully the White House has itself dismissed this course of action stating that it is unconstitutional.