The President cannot edit the Constitution, but he appears to be trying to hide key sections of the Constitution from the American public.

As of 9:30 am EDT, on August 6, 2025, the bottom of the page presenting Article I ends with Clause 12 of Section 8. There are six additional clauses in Section 8, and Article I also includes Sections 9 and 10. The same unexplained cut appears on the main page presenting the whole Constitution.

We urge all Americans, and anyone seeking to understand the scope and structure of American democracy, or to understand their own rights, should they interact with any public authorities of the United States or any of the 50 states, or any locality, to read the entire Constitution (our version is uncut), as well as the Bill of Rights and later Amendments. It is also a good idea to re-read them all from time to time, to stay aware of what is right and lawful and what is not allowed in the exercise of public authority.

While at this moment we do not know what led to this excising of part or all of three sections of Article I of the Constitution from the leading online presentation of the nation’s founding body of law, we can look at what is missing:

Section 8 of Article I outlines important constraints on the discretion of the Executive branch in the exercise of power. Among the provisions of Article I, Section 8, which remain in the excised website are those clauses giving Congress sole authority to:

• “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations”;
• “establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization”;
• “coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin”;
• “provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States”;
• “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts”;
• “define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations”;
• and to “declare War”, among other authorities.

Each of these is a limit on the power of the Executive. Among those clauses mysteriously cut from the Library of Congress’ annotated presentation of Article I are Congress’ authority to:

• “provide and maintain a Navy”;
• “make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces”;
• “provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions”;
• “provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress”;
• “exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over [the nation’s capital city, including] Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings”;
•  and “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”

Those clauses of Article I, Section 8, that have been removed all relate to the legal limitations on the President’s authority over government agencies, military structure and operations, and control over the National Guard, which is left to the states. In other words, the President cannot replace National Guard senior officers with loyalists and then force a state’s National Guard personnel to act against the rights and wellbeing of the state which they serve, as he attempted in California.

Sections 9 and 10 of Article I also include extremely important provisions restricting the authority of the Executive branch. Maybe the most significant is Clause 2 of Section 9, which states:

“The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”

Habeas Corpus is the legal doctrine, first established in the year 1215 by Clause 39 of the Magna Carta, that

“No man shall be arrested or imprisoned… except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land…”

The Writ of Habeas Corpus is the power of the Courts to review the lawfulness of any detention of any person. It is protected in Article I, which focuses on the authority of Congress, to make clear that no law can be lawful if it violates this principle, which means no Executive action can be lawful if it violates this principle, and no Court can say otherwise.

No person in the United States has authority to authorize detention without lawful reason and lawful procedure. The Fourth and Fifth Amendments, along with several other provisions of the Bill of Rights, reinforce this prohibition. No detention can be lawful that does not follow from specific evidence, based on probable cause, and acting on a warrant from a judge, or subject to judicial review and due process.

Section 9 also prohibits “ex post facto” laws. That means Congress cannot make something illegal retroactively, in order to selectively imprison anyone. Such abusive legislation has been used throughout history to imprison political rivals, critics, and dissidents.

Section 9 also prohibits laws that give preference to ports in some states over others. And, it specifies:

“No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

The Executive branch is prohibited from treating federal funds as a matter of Presidential discretion. Congress controls not only the amount of funding but the specific uses to which that money can be devoted.

Section 9 also prohibits the granting of titles of nobility—meaning no person can act as if they are owners of any part of structure of the republic. Officeholders do not own the powers of their office; they are required to use them in service of the people and in defense of the people’s rights.

And, it includes the prohibition on “emoluments” or extra payments that might corrupt a public official’s administration of their duties. That prohibition is spelled out this way:

“no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

Yes, the President is prohibited from receiving, even as an investment in a company owned by family members, any emolument, or enrichment, from anyone linked to a foreign state or its political leadership or ruling family. The current administration seems to want to obscure this part of the Constitution from the public and from those who would defend the interests of the public.

Section 10 also includes important prohibitions that prevent corruption and the institution of abusive or mafia-style government. Specifically, it prohibits states from:

• imposing tariffs;
• passing ex-post facto laws;
• “impairing the Obligation of Contracts”;
• producing their own money without consent of Congress;
• entering into international alliances or “confederations”—a provision aimed at preventing dissolution of the republic or its co-opting by foreign imperial powers;
• or waging war “unless actually invaded”.

This “actually invaded” clause makes clear to the Courts that neither the Executive branch nor the governments of states aligned with the current President are allowed to wage war unless there is a genuine military invasion by a foreign power, or war is declared by an act of Congress. Asylum seekers attempting to exercise their rights under American and international law do not constitute such an actual military invasion by a foreign power.

References to currency may affect whether some cryptocurrency ventures, including those now being led by the President’s sons, are lawful. Some experiments with cryptocurrency, which the President has asked Congress to authorize, may not be allowed, even if Congress purports to have created special legal authorization.

It is concerning that any section of the Constitution would be obscured or erased by the Executive branch, and how that came about deserves intense scrutiny from the public, the press, the States, the Congress, and the Courts. It is alarming that among the provisions obscured are those that outlaw arbitrary detention, summary sentencing, and disappearance, and others which restrict military activity on American soil and seek to prevent corruption or illicit dealing with foreign powers.

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UPDATE—Wed, Aug 6, 2025 – 8:32 pm EDT

The Library of Congress said today, in response to complaints and concerns about potential manipulation of the public’s access to information, that the deletions were the result of a “coding error”.

As reported by Tech Crunch:

In a tweet posted on Wednesday, the Library of Congress said the sections were missing “due to a coding error” and expect it to be “resolved soon.” When contacted by TechCrunch, a spokesperson for the Library of Congress did not say what caused the coding error, or how it was introduced.

Changing the U.S. Constitution’s text on the website does not change or have any effect on U.S. law, but it nevertheless follows senior Trump administration official Stephen Miller’s threats earlier this year to suspend habeas corpus.