Swearing on Dr. Seuss? Why Government Officials Don’t Have to Use Bible for Oath of Office

From members of Congress to firefighters, government employees start the job by swearing an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

Many people choose to swear the oath of office with a hand on the Bible. But does the Constitution require using the Bible to swear the oath of office?

Do government officials have to swear with a hand on the Bible for their oath of office?

No. The Constitution protects religious freedom and says that there cannot be a religious test to hold public office. Public officials do not have to use a Bible when taking their oath of office. Many oath ceremonies do not require any document for swearing the oath; they just require reciting the words of the oath.

What is an oath of office and who takes one?

Many government officials must take an oath to protect the Constitution when they are sworn into office.

Article II of the Constitution says that the president must take an oath of office.

Article VI of the Constitution says, “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.”

This means that members of Congress, state legislators, and federal and state judges must take an oath of office.

Federal and state laws require other civil servants, members of the military, and people who work for the federal, state, or local government to take an oath of office too.

How these oaths are made is determined by tradition.

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What are the requirements for what documents officials can use for swearing the oath of office?

Formal oaths traditionally can be sworn with one hand on a religious book like a Bible to suggest that breaking the oath includes a moral component.

The Constitution and other laws define the words of the oath of office. However, no Bible or other book or document is actually required to take an oath of office.

For example, President Theodore Roosevelt did not use any book or document when he took the oath.

According to the office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the official oath swearing of new members is done as a group on the House floor. It doesn’t involve a Bible or any other book or document.

Some members also do their own ceremonial oath swearing and may then elect to use a Bible, a different book or document, or nothing at all.

What in the Constitution lets officials swear their oaths using the Bible or any other book?

Multiple parts of the Constitution protect freedom of religion including for elected officials. Officials can swear using any book or document meaningful to them – or none at all.

The First Amendment protects freedom of religion

The First Amendment protects freedom of religion for people of all faiths and none and prevents the government from favoring any particular religion.

The right to live by one’s own religious beliefs is guaranteed by the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. This protects the right to practice your religion and to read your religion’s scripture, whether that’s the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita or any other sacred book.

Sometimes, religious beliefs include not swearing on scripture like the Bible. Other times, religious beliefs can include holding a sacred book as an important item for making a promise or oath or showing other people one’s faith by swearing in while holding or touching a sacred book.

The First Amendment guarantees that the government won’t “establish” a religion. In practice this means that the government cannot favor any particular religious tradition over any other or over no religion. It cannot pressure or force anyone into having certain beliefs or following certain religious practices. This means that the government cannot require someone to believe in or accept the Bible – or any other sacred book – as scripture.

The oath of office can’t depend on a religious test

Article VI of the Constitution requires government officials to take an oath of office. It also says that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office.”

In other words, people don’t have to be of a certain religion to be qualified to hold public office. They can be of any religion or none.

So, government employees are welcome to take the oath using any book or document meaningful to them — be it the Bible, Quran or Torah — with a nonreligious book or document, or with no book or document at all.

For example, they could take the oath on the Constitution itself, like our sixth President John Quincy Adams did.

What are some examples of officials taking an oath of office on a meaningful book other than a Bible?

The Constitution: Other officials have also been sworn into office using the Constitution itself. In 2014, Ambassador Suzi LeVine swore the oath of office using a Kindle displaying the 19th Amendment. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema was sworn in to Congress using a copy of the Constitution in 2019.

Religious books remain more commonly used, though.

Catholic missal: President Lyndon B. Johnson was reportedly sworn into office with a Catholic book owned by John F. Kennedy moments after Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

Quran: In 2007, Rep. Ralph Ellison was sworn into office with a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. In 2019, Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib also took their oaths with Islam’s holy book.

Bhagavad Gita: U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in 2013 became the first member of Congress known to use the Bhagavad Gita for swearing in. Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller also used the Hindu book in 2023.

Sometimes, officials take their oaths of office with books that send a message.

Banned books: Pennsylvania school board President Karen Smith in December 2013 took her oath with a stack of books that had been challenged, including “Night” by Elie Weisel. Virginia school board chair Karl Frisch did the same.

Unusual but meaningful choices: In 2018, a county commissioner in Georgia used “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” In 2019, a St. Louis councilwoman swore the oath with the Dr. Seuss book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” In 2023, U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia used a rare Superman comic book borrowed from the Library of Congress to represent the superhero’s sense of justice. He also held a copy of the Constitution, his citizenship certificate, and a picture of his late parents.

In September 2023, a NASA official took her oath of office with a science fiction novel by astronomer Carl Sagan.

Some of these choices might seem unconventional, but they’re meaningful and motivating to the officials who used them. And Article VI and the First Amendment both protect the freedom to act on one’s deepest beliefs – religious or otherwise – when entering public service.

This report is compiled based on previously published Freedom Forum content. The editor is Karen Hansen. Email.