Article originally appeared on amac.us.
With U.S. public borrowing on course to breach the “debt ceiling” as early as June 1 and Congress still gridlocked on a solution, many on the left are urging President Joe Biden to take the “14th Amendment option.”
By this, journalists, politicians, and a few legal scholars, most of whom are Democrats, refer to an argument that the fourth clause of the 14th Amendment declares “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.”
Based on this, say liberal journalists, politicians, and legal scholars, the debt limit itself is unconstitutional and Biden should be able to borrow or print money at will.
While the motives of those pushing this argument are partisan, it is a rare case where the plain text of the Constitution seems to support their position. …
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