The official U.S. Constitution page on Congress.gov has quietly removed Article I Sections 9 and 10, along with a significant portion of Section 8. These sections define essential limits on government power, including protections like habeas corpus, bans on ex post facto laws and bills of attainder, and restrictions on state sovereignty. The change has sparked concern among legal experts, transparency advocates, and online communities.
As first noticed by users on Reddit, including the r/Military community, the website now jumps directly from Section 8 to Article II, omitting any mention of the denied powers clauses. Even more notably, the “Article I Explained” section meant to clarify and summarize these protections—also excludes any reference to the missing sections.
Archived comparisons from the Wayback Machine confirm that the full text of Sections 9 and 10 was still present as of June 1, 2025, but had been removed by August 6, 2025. Among the missing content is the Writ of Habeas Corpus, a fundamental protection that ensures no one can be detained unlawfully or indefinitely without cause.
A dozen advocacy groups and petition organizers have issued urgent demands for restoration. One petition described the removal as a “cheap authoritarian stunt” and called on Congress to reverse the change immediately.
Legal experts emphasize that removing text from a website does not alter constitutional law. The Constitution remains fully binding. Still, experts warn that erasing essential passages from a public platform undermines transparency and civic trust.
Section 9 historically bans bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and the suspension of habeas corpus except in cases of invasion or rebellion. Section 10 prohibits states from making treaties, coining money, declaring war, and other acts reserved for federal authority. These clauses safeguard civil liberties and maintain the balance of power between state and federal governments.
Currently, users seeking summaries or explanations of these clauses find nothing. The main Article I navigation no longer includes links or descriptions for those missing sections.
Despite growing public concern, no federal official has offered an explanation or a timeline for restoring the content. The Library of Congress and congressional staff have yet to comment.
In practical terms, the Constitution’s protections remain intact. But removing these sections from what is supposed to be the definitive online version risks confusing readers and eroding institutional memory.
Restoring access to those sections may seem procedural, but democratic accountability relies on public visibility of these foundational legal safeguards.
These traitors have no shame. If you voted for this, you are a traitor as well.
I just checked the Constitution page linked here, as well as the Constitution Annotated page, and it seems that by the time I got to this article, if the relevant sections were indeed quietly removed… they were put back. Maybe also quietly.