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Compiled by Jeff Rau,
Anna Pendland and Angel Shamaya Article II - Declaration of Rights
U.S. Constitution Comes Before Statutes, Edicts, Ordinances, Rules
or Regulations
Preamble:
We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution.
Article II - Declaration os Rights
Section 3. Inalienable rights. All persons are born free and have certain inalienable rights. They include the right to a clean and healthful environment and the rights of pursuing life's basic necessities, enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and seeking their safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways. In enjoying these rights, all persons recognize corresponding responsibilities.
Section 12. Right to bear arms. The right of any person to keep or bear arms in defense of his own home, person, and property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but nothing herein contained shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons.
Section 32. Civilian control of the military. The military shall always be in strict subordination to the civil power; no soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, except in the manner provided by law.
Article III - General Government
Section 3. Oath of office. Members of the legislature and all executive, ministerial and judicial officers, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, before they enter upon the duties of their offices:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect and defend the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Montana, and that I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity (so help me God)." No other oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.
UNITED
STATES CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT
II. 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)
UNITED
STATES CONSTITUTION ARTICLE
VI. All Debts
contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this
Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this
Constitution, as under the Confederation. 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, any Thing 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. Source:
Constitution of the United States of America EXPLANATION
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. 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, except that in any action brought against a
judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial
capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory
decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. 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; Pub. L. 104-317,
title III, Sec. 309(c), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3853.) 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
TITLE 5.
GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES 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. State
Constitutions on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms |
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