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It should hopefully go without saying that as shocking as this is, this is not the legally binding version of the Constitution. Nor is it the only version hosted on a US Government website.

NARA's, for example, still seems complete: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcri...

So is the Senate's: https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-...

I don't think it's shocking at all. It's a fuckup, so what? All of the conspiracy theories and online discourse around this just show how stupid most conspiracy theories are and how braindead so much online discourse has become.

Just look at the Reddit thread on this, which currently has nearly 50k votes, and one of the top comments is "Treasonous", https://old.reddit.com/r/law/comments/1mj3ttx/constitution_o.... Like I wholeheartedly believe that the current administration may want to (and, IMO, already has) subvert large parts of the Constitution, but deleting a few paragraphs from the Library of Congress' online version of the Constitution is not how they're going to go about it. What, do people not think there are, I don't know, a couple million copies of the Constitution out and about? Do they think some judge is just going to open the Library of Congress website and go "Oh well, I know that part was there yesterday, but it's gone now so I guess we can't have a navy anymore."

It's all just so dumb.

No one is supposing this is the way they'll do it, only that this could be a way they do it. As you've already suggested, they're also already doing it other ways.

There's a reason authoritarian regimes are known for destroying and modifying records. It's because they often destroy and modify records.

Library of Congress ack’d and is saying this was a “coding error” and will be fixed soon.

https://x.com/librarycongress/status/1953109733633597634?s=4...

I wonder if an LLM was involved.
Be cool if we got a PM. It'd be interesting to see what's going on behind the scenes on the Library of Congress website.

Of course government doesn't work that way so we'll never see anything.

It's a bit odd that the deletion starts midway through section 8. In a perfect world I'd first assume a software bug, then an accident, then incompetency. In the current political climate, … I don't even know what to think.
It's an interesting chunk to remove. Some highlights:

The President could command the armed forces without statutory limits. The Writ of Habeas Corpus could be suspended at any time, even without rebellion or invasion. Congress would no longer have exclusive legislative control over Washington, D.C. or military installations.

The executive could spend from the Treasury without congressional approval. The executive branch could favour certain ports or states in commerce, allowing economic favouritism, punishing or rewarding states.

The federal government might override state-level agreements without needing to respect boundaries. Congress would lose its broad enabling clause to legislate on powers not explicitly listed elsewhere.

The funny part: this means that states could create their own militaries, treaties, or currencies. So in theory that would grant the power for a far-more-independent California state that would have an easier time seceding.

> this means that states could create their own militaries, treaties, or currencies.

Also issue letters of marque!

Nobody removed anything from the Constitution. Someone removed a chunk of a website about the Constitution. Rhode Island doesn't get to form its own Navy now, sorry.
I think it’s a little wink wink to the base. They do cute shit like that every now and then.
What about the "current political climate" is exceptional compared to - for example - the jingoistic garbage we got in 2002? Just look at the crap we were being fed back then to convince us to go to war: https://lukebennett13.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/...
They truncated Article 1 starting with "To provide and maintain a Navy" (which is a really weird place to start) with no other diff highlighted. I'm gonna file this one under incompetence rather than malice.
They erased the No Preference For Ports clause! Clearly the start of something big.
Yikes. They removed that section from this page, too:

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/

http://web.archive.org/web/20250721170235/https://constituti...

Creating a constitutional crisis by digitally memory-holing the existing constitution is an interesting approach. I don't recall any regimes attempting this in the past.
My heart goes out to the poor dev that's having to fix this ASAP while multiple stressed out managers keep calling and asking for an update, before it becomes a completely unnecessary news cycle.
Uhh it is text? Unless there is some astronaut engineering in place, this is a copy and paste, one minute job. Or (optimistically) a revert.
Why would they remove Habeus Corpus?

"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

To detain political opponents without cause or proof. To do the same to critics, comics, anyone that has ever posted/said anything negative about the admin, and on and on.

Removal of Habeus Corpus means you can be detained without cause, and you do not get a chance to defend yourself.

This is what dictators do.

For the same reason they removed the Navy.
Dead, like habeas corpus rigor mortis.
Makes it easier to deport anyone that isn't white.
No one has so far suggested the obvious: it's a stunt to get people talking, checking the website, brushing up their Constitutional knowledge, foreshadowing an upcoming state of emergency. Possibly those who arranged such a stunt have advance warning and foresee a near-future need for a spot of civics education. Make a mental note of the specific rights allegedly "deleted" in case they turn out to be pertinent. Then, just a suggestion, give chapters 6, 8, and 13 of the book of Revelation a glance for examples of conditions where such rights might be suspended.
Reallllly hoping this is just a cut and paste error...

It also seems like it could be taken out for sections of the country to seceded from the union.

"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;"

This appears to be the removed section:

--------------------------

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section 9

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section 10

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Okay, folks, it's time to stop freaking out.

First, this is a link to the Constitution Annotated, a legal treatise that explains the Constitution and its written by the Congressional Research Service, a division inside the Library of Congress. They are NOT subject to Trump administration orders because they are a Legislative branch agency. There is a very live issue about the independence of the Library (that I've previously [written about](https://firstbranchforecast.substack.com/p/a-constitutional-...)), but at the moment the acting Library of Congress is independent and is not a Trump appointee.

Second, the addition or removal of information on the CONAN website has no legal effect and it's not an effort to conceal anything. More likely than not, it's an error on the part of the folks administering the website. You can find the print version of the document on the Government Publishing Office's website.

How do I know about this? Well, I used to work at CRS as a legislative attorney and sat next to the guy who edited the treatise. And then starting in 2009, when I was working at a non-profit, I began advocating for the CONAN to be published online, only to be rebuffed by the Library for more than a decade. Here are my [letters](https://github.com/DanielSchuman/Policy/wiki/Constitution-An...) on the topic.

It is entirely appropriate to be freaking out about the White House's efforts to take over the Legislative branch. I've written about that [here](https://firstbranchforecast.substack.com/p/submission-accomp...). But the CONAN website is not the thing to freak out about.

If you have concerns with the Congress dot gov website, and I have more than a view, use the LC's [feedback website](https://www.research.net/r/congress-gov-feedback) to let them know there's an issue.

(Apparently markdown doesn't work for formatting. Sorry.)

Do you have any insight into what kind of work they're doing that would involve changes to the display of the constitution?

It's puzzling to me as the document doesn't change often (someone mentioned 1992 as the last time it changed), so why is anyone even touching it.

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44811733
That one was flagged, unfortunately. It would be good to merge the two discussions, however.
I wonder how much of this is to mess with LLMs.
In light of current events, it does not feel like an accident.
How so? The removed section is contiguous and includes a bunch of stuff about navies and states making deals with foreign powers. That's exactly what an accident would look like. Never mind that the online version of the constitution has nothing to do with the legal application thereof. It's not like judges and lawyers are going to look at the website and go: "ah well, that part of the constitution is no longer online so I will just ignore it".

The level of paranoia here is unreal. We should be laughing at these idiots for being unable to manage a simple website, not spinning apocalyptic nonsense about how this will materially alter the constitution as applied in the courts.

Right, the Library of Congress intentionally removed:

To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

etc from their website.

Time to pack up the Carriers and Subs boys, the Congress.gov intern deleted the authorization for maintaining a Navy! It was a good run while it lasted!

Which makes it a very good lesson for how bad our intuitions are about accidents.
... but it probably is.
It is back to nominal already
This is just a barometer for the number of gullible people on HN
What? Gullible is a malleable term depending on what your opinions are. You should specify what you are critiquing. Ad hominem isn't beneficial for this platform.
Do you mean gullible as in following the Trumpian narrative over the evidence of your own eyes, or gullible as in believing that this is yet another piece of disruption/distraction by the team behind Project 2025?
The thing is that it is described as a coding error that is responsible, I have a pretty long history in finding coding errors, and also finding things that people did maliciously.

Some of these things that were removed are things that the current administration would probably find useful if they didn't exist.

I don't disbelieve that it can be a coding error, but I do doubt it just because I am finding it weird to imagine a scenario where this happens.

Arguments against it being malicious:

stuff has also been removed that maybe current administration wouldn't want removed - for example:

>To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

>To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

I think they'd want to leave it in.

Coding error Scenarios:

Parts of Section 8 and Section 9 were removed. What scenario could create this. Doubt it's some sort of DB error given the parts of Section 8 removal.

So I would think some sort of text munging system, perhaps XML or SGML and there were some external entities that could not be resolved. That the whole thing works and doesn't have any sort of leftover bits of text in the current version implies they have some sort of cleanup.

I would have been more expecting to see something like "&sec8_29987; &sec9_complete;" or something like that in the right hand side of the diff but nope.

That would imply external entities are saved somewhere that maybe was not available at generation time, that is to say the end of section 8 and section 9 are currently offline.

That would be a kind of explanation, but of course I doubt it because uh Why?!

Is there some sort of publishing system where these entities are used, then I would expect that articles about that part of Section 8 and Section 9 at https://constitution.congress.gov/ would also have those parts missing in the articles - like there would be a quote and it would instead say "text retrieval error" or something similar.

But then I also doubt it because why just those parts.

And anyway when I look at https://constitution.congress.gov/search/%22section%209%22 it seems like information about Section 9 is still available.

Question: how often has this online version of the Constitution had these problems over the years? Is this the only time this kind of bug has happened.

Has there ever been coding errors when section 8 got repeated.. or similar types of problems.

I mean it's not unheard of that there are rare bugs that happen just the one time that alert you there is an instability in a long running system, but it's not common either hence the use of the word "rare" to describe bugs of this sort.

Obviously I have made a number of assumptions here, for example I assume this system was not redesigned a month ago and is not currently The U.S Constitution - powered by React! It looks to me like a long running system, but maybe I'm wrong.

Note: why do I ask if sections ever repeated, because removal of sections as coding error implies assembling document from parts which strikes me weird here but OK it is a common document pattern also, maybe someone thought it was a clever idea at the time.

But if you assemble documents you have two common types of bugs: missing parts of document bugs and parts of document repeating bugs.