The deletion happened sometime in the past few weeks, as an Internet Archive capture shows that the text was still on the site until at least July 21. The deletions were being discussed this morning on Reddit and in news articles, with people expressing suspicions based on which parts of the Constitution were missing.
The temporarily deleted sections of Article 1 consist of about 650 words, as can be seen in an Internet Archive version comparison. This included part of Section 8 and all of Sections 9 and 10. One deleted bit contains authorization for Congress to provide and maintain a Navy, and to call forth a “Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”
Another victim of the temporary deletion was the section on habeas 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,” it says. Other deletions included a provision allowing the slave trade to continue until 1808, a prohibition on bills of attainder, and several provisions detailing powers denied to states.
Of course, the Constitution can’t be changed by simply deleting passages from a government website, but the error temporarily made it more difficult for people to look up parts of the founding document. On the other hand, most people don’t spend a lot of time reading the Constitution, so the attention generated by the incident may result in a net increase in Constitutional reading.
This article was updated with a statement from the Library of Congress.
