Oath of
Office in the State of Arizona
Compiled by Angel Shamaya
Founder/Director
KeepAndBearArms.com
He who cheats on an oath
acknowledges that he is afraid of his enemy, and he thinks little of God. ~~
Plutarch
If you are a
public servant in the State of Arizona or any city, town, county or municipality
thereof and are not abiding by your oath of office, you are operating outside
the law. At least two generations of political and social pressures have urged
disregard of certain of your most important legal duties, and the time has come
to say enough is enough. Below are Federal and state laws and statutes by which
you MUST abide. Failure to abide by your oath of office carries both civil and
criminal penalties.
The
Arizona Constitution's Requirement to take the Oath of Office
Article 6, Section 26
Oath of office.
Section 26. Each justice, judge and justice of
the peace shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and
subscribe an oath that he will support the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution of the State of Arizona, and that he will faithfully and
impartially discharge the duties of his office to the best of his ability.
The oath of all judges of courts inferior to
the superior court and the oath of justices of the peace shall be filed in the
office of the county recorder, and the oath of all other justices and judges
shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state.
Source: Arizona
Constitution: Article 6, Section 26: http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/6/26.htm
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The
Actual Arizona Oath of Office Public Servants in Arizona are Required to Take
Arizona Revised Statute 38-231.
Officers and employees required to take loyalty oath; form; classification
A. In order to insure the statewide application
of this section on a uniform basis, each board, commission, agency, and
independent office of the state, and of any of its political subdivisions, and
of any county, city, town, municipal corporation, school district, and public
educational institution, shall immediately upon the effective date of this act
completely reproduce section 38-231 as set forth herein, to the end that the
form of written oath or affirmation required herein shall contain all of the
provisions of said section for use by all officers and employees of all boards,
commissions, agencies and independent offices.
B. For the purposes of this section, the term
officer or employee means any person elected, appointed, or employed, either on
a part-time or full-time basis, by the state, or any of its political
subdivisions or any county, city, town, municipal corporation, school district,
public educational institution, or any board, commission or agency of any of the
foregoing.
C. Any officer or employee elected, appointed,
or employed prior to the effective date of this act shall not later than ninety
days after the effective date of this act take and subscribe the form of oath or
affirmation set forth in this section.
D. Any officer or employee within the meaning
of this section who fails to take and subscribe the oath or affirmation provided
by this section within the time limits prescribed by this section shall not be
entitled to any compensation unless and until such officer or employee does so
take and subscribe to the form of oath or affirmation set forth in this section.
E. Any officer or employee as defined in this
section having taken the form of oath or affirmation prescribed by this section,
and knowingly at the time of subscribing the oath or affirmation, or at any time
thereafter during his term of office or employment, does commit or aid in the
commission of any act to overthrow by force or violence the government of this
state or of any of its political subdivisions, or advocates the overthrow by
force or violence of the government of this state or of any of its political
subdivisions, or during such term of office or employment knowingly becomes or
remains a member of the communist party of the United States or its successors
or any of its subordinate organizations or any other organization having for one
of its purposes the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the
state of Arizona or any of its political subdivisions, and said officer or
employee as defined in this section prior to becoming or remaining a member of
such organization or organizations had knowledge of said unlawful purpose of
said organization or organizations, shall be guilty of a class 4 felony and,
upon conviction under this section, the officer or employee shall be deemed
discharged from said office or employment and shall not be entitled to any
additional compensation or any other emoluments or benefits which may have been
incident or appurtenant to said office or employment.
F. Any of the persons referred to in article
XVIII, section 10 of the Arizona Constitution as amended, related to the
employment of aliens, shall be exempted from any compliance with the provisions
of this section.
G. In addition to any other form of oath or
affirmation specifically provided by law for an officer or employee, before any
officer or employee enters upon the duties of his office or employment, he shall
take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:
State of Arizona, County of ______________ I,
____________________ (type or print name)
do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of
the State of Arizona; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same,
and defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will
faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of
_______________________________ (name of office) ________________________
according to the best of my ability, so help me God (or so I do affirm).
______________________________________
(signature of officer or employee)
Source: http://www.azleg.state.az.us/ars/38/231.htm
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Arizona Constitution on the
right to keep and bear arms
Arizona Constitution: Article
2, Section 26
"The right of the individual citizen to bear
arms in defense of himself or the State shall not be impaired, but nothing in
this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to
organize, maintain, or employ an armed body of men."
Source: http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/2/26.htm
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U.S.
Constitution on the right to keep and bear arms
"A well-regulated Militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to
keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Source: Bill of Rights, Second
Amendment (ratified 1791, and still the Law of the Land)
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The
Constitution Comes Before Statutes, Edicts, Ordinances, Rules or Regulations
Article VI, U.S. Constitution
This Constitution, and the laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which
shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme
law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything
in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before
mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive
and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states,
shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public
trust under the United States.
From Law.Cornell.Edu:
"This means that state
governments and officials cannot take actions or pass laws that interfere with
the Constitution, laws passed by Congress, or treaties. The Constitution was
interpreted, in 1819, as giving the Supreme Court the power to invalidate any
state actions that interfere with the Constitution and the laws and treaties
passed pursuant to it. That power is not itself explicitly set out in the
Constitution but was declared to exist by the Supreme Court in the decision of
McCulloch
v. Maryland."
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CIVIL RIGHTS ACT
42 U.S.C. Chapter 21
SUBCHAPTER I--GENERALLY
Every person who, under color of any statute,
ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the
District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the
United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation
of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws,
shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or
other proper proceeding for redress. For the purposes of this section, any Act
of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be
considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
(R.S. Sec. 1979; Pub. L. 96-170, Sec. 1, Dec.
29, 1979, 93 Stat. 1284.)
Source: For date law was enacted,
history of law, amendments (slight, and very much intact in spirit), go here: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=browse_usc&docid=Cite:+42USC1983
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PUBLIC LAW 96-303
CODE OF ETHICS FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICE (signed into law on July 3, 1980)
ANY PERSON IN GOVERNMENT SERVICE SHOULD:
I. Put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty
to persons, party, or Government department.
II. Uphold the Constitution, laws, and regulations of the United States and
of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.
III. Give a full day's labor for a full day's pay; giving earnest effort and
best thought to the performance of duties.
IV. Seek to find and employ more efficient and economical ways of getting
tasks accomplished.
V. Never discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or
VI. Make no private promises of any kind binding upon the duties of office,
since a Government employee has no private word which can be binding on public
duty.
VII. Engage in no business with the Government, either directly or
indirectly, which is inconsistent with the conscientious performance of
governmental duties.
VIII. Never use any information gained confidentially in the performance of
government duties as a means for making private profit.
IX. Expose corruption wherever discovered.
X. Uphold these principles, ever conscious that public office is a public
trust.
DECA Poster 80-3, Feb 94
When this law was passed, it included a requirement for posting the above
in government facilities. That requirement was later repealed. (Source
1, Source
2) But the law itself is still very much a LAW.
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U.S. State Constitutions
State
Constitutions on the Right to Keep And Bear Arms
Arizona
Constitution
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/const.htm
