Meaning of 14th Amendment Section 4

[Brett85]

Someone just asked me a question on Facebook about my interpretation of the 14th amendment, Article 4. This is the article which states:

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."

I suppose this person is trying to see whether I think this clause in the 14th amendment could be used to give President Obama the authority to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling. So I just have two questions.

1) Why was this section of the 14th amendment created, and specifically what does it mean?

2) What is the answer to the liberal argument that this section of the 14th amendment gives the President the power to borrow more money to fund the government?

Thanks.

[familydog]

Someone just asked me a question on Facebook about my interpretation of the 14th amendment, Article 4. This is the article which states:

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void."

I suppose this person is trying to see whether I think this clause in the 14th amendment could be used to give President Obama the authority to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling. So I just have two questions.

1) Why was this section of the 14th amendment created, and specifically what does it mean?

2) What is the answer to the liberal argument that this section of the 14th amendment gives the President the power to borrow more money to fund the government?

Thanks.

1. This is a decent write-up of the history of Section 4.
http://balkin.blogspot.com/2011/06/legislative-history-of-section-four-of.html

2. Judge Napolitano explains why the liberal argument is incorrect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN_zCBMm0gI

[Brett85]

This is what I said after reading the 14th amendment and thinking about the current debate. (And before I saw your response and your links) Tell me whether I'm way off or not.

"I guess one thing I would say is that this section of the 14th amendment may not apply to the debt ceiling since there's no chance at all we'll actually default on the debt. I believe the interest on the debt is about 200 billion, and we bring in over 2.7 trillion a year. We have more than enough money to pay the interest on the debt. If we actually defaulted on the debt, it would be because the President chose to do so, not because he had no choice. So when Article 4 states that "the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned," I don't believe the validity of the public debt would be in question if the debt ceiling wasn't raised, because we would easily have the money to pay the interest on the debt, and paying the interest on the debt would be the first bill that would be paid with the money coming in to the Treasury."

[familydog]

You raise an interesting point and I believe it to hold some merit. I think it works well in conjunction with Napolitano's argument.

Personally, I just argue that the entire amendment itself is unconstitutional, tee hee.