President Trump bucked tradition on Monday when he did not place his hand on the Bible while taking the oath of office during his second inauguration.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath, telling Trump, who was walking toward him, to raise his right hand and repeat the words he was about to say.
Trump then raised his right hand, and as Roberts said, “I, Donald John Trump,” first lady Melania Trump was seen approaching with a stack of Bibles.
Rather than place his left hand on the Bibles, he kept his hand by his side and continued to take the oath of office as his family filed in behind him.
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Melania Trump held two Bibles — one was the Lincoln Bible and the other was her husband’s personal Bible that was given to him by his mother when he was a child. Trump did place his hand on both those Bibles when he took the oath of office in 2017.
Trump’s team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on why the president did not place his hand on the Bibles.
Vice President JD Vance did place his hand on the Bible while he was sworn in.
Some people on social media say Roberts rushed the oath, while others appeared to be in disbelief that Trump did not place his hand on the Bibles, which is a tradition dating back to the very first inauguration of President George Washington.
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While it is traditional for the incoming president to place a hand on the Bible while taking the oath of office, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that requires them to do so.
In fact, presidents “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation,” according to Article VI of the Constitution. The same article states, “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
Article II of the Constitution also says the president must take the oath before entering office, though there is no mention of religion.
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The Constitution lays out the exact language to be used in the 34-word oath of office: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Many judges have tacked on four little words, “so help me God.” It is not legally or constitutionally required, unlike other federal oaths that invoke the words as standard procedure. Historians have been at odds over whether President Washington established precedent by adding the phrase on his own during his first acceptance, but contemporary accounts mention no such ad-libbing.
Abraham Lincoln was reported to have said it spontaneously in 1861, and other presidents over the years have followed suit. A Bible is traditionally used, with the president placing one hand on it while raising the other during the oath of office.
The Constitution also does not require the president or members of Congress or federal judges to be sworn in by a Supreme Court justice, though they just have for inaugurations, most of the time.
When Washington took the first oath of office in 1789, the Supreme Court had not yet been formed, so New York’s highest-ranking judge did the honors at Federal Hall on Wall Street.
Four years later, Associate Justice William Cushing swore in Washington for a second term, beginning the Supreme Court tradition.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.
