Coding Error Blamed After Parts of Constitution Disappear From US Website (arstechnica.com) 67
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Library of Congress today said a coding error resulted in the deletion of parts of the US Constitution from Congress' website and promised a fix after many Internet users pointed out the missing sections this morning. The missing portions of the Constitution were restored to one part of the website a few hours after the Library of Congress statement and reappeared on a different part of the website another hour or so later. The Constitution Annotated website carried a notice saying it "is currently experiencing data issues. We are working to resolve this issue and regret the inconvenience."
"Upkeep of Constitution Annotated and other digital resources is a critical part of the Library's mission, and we appreciate the feedback that alerted us to the error and allowed us to fix it," the Library of Congress said. We asked the Library of Congress for specific details on the coding error, but we received only a statement that did not include specifics. "Due to a technical error, some sections of Article 1 were temporarily missing on the Constitution Annotated website. This problem has been corrected, and the missing sections have been restored," the statement said.
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.
"Upkeep of Constitution Annotated and other digital resources is a critical part of the Library's mission, and we appreciate the feedback that alerted us to the error and allowed us to fix it," the Library of Congress said. We asked the Library of Congress for specific details on the coding error, but we received only a statement that did not include specifics. "Due to a technical error, some sections of Article 1 were temporarily missing on the Constitution Annotated website. This problem has been corrected, and the missing sections have been restored," the statement said.
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.
Hoping for at least 5 idiotic jokes (Score:1, Funny)
Please don't disappoint your mother.
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Just kidding, trump ignores the constitution anyways.
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This is more terrifying than anything. From the man who vowed to only be a dictator on his first day. https://apnews.com/article/tru... [apnews.com]
Re: Hoping for at least 5 idiotic jokes (Score:3)
With his dementia, everyday is the âoefirstâ day
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Don't worry though, they're putting it back in straight away.
Figures. (Score:5, Funny)
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So, you don't actually know either who and what they are (working on turning the US into an oligarchy) or the Constitution.
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Are you sure they aren't just promoting policies you disagree with, and that your statements about them are entirely hyperbolic? I think that the Center for American Progress promotes bad policies, but I won't accuse them of doing so maliciously. I think they believe they are working to benefit our society, even if I believe the outcomes will be devastating.
I have generally agreed with the policies promoted by the Federalist Society. I think
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Explaining the joke (Score:2)
Coding error? (Score:5, Insightful)
What the hell were they doing fiddling with coding on what is essentially a static site? I've used that site on many occasions. The amendments aren't changing.
What is needed is the Internet Archive version of what the site looked like and said prior to this "coding error" and what it looks and says after the "fix". That will tell the story.
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Re:Coding error? (Score:5, Interesting)
How much you bet it previously was simply a static HTML page, but the content got moved to some CRM or another?
Re: Coding error? (Score:2)
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Doh! Yes, of course I did - no idea how I managed to turn that into "CRM".
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Everyone print out a hard copy for safe keeping. The real fun begins when one of his DEI hires fucks up and deletes the second amendment.
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Preview of excuses to come (Score:2)
AI provides a black box excuse for everything you involve it with; however, we let them get away with most every excuse they dream up already. Even pedophiles... Trump may as well just say the 13 year old he raped was wearing a blond wig and he just mistook her for his daughter; nothing criminal about that... Bet it only takes a year to make that OK; just as they've made Facism great again and Antifa the villain.
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I have plenty of physical copies at my house, I'm not worried we'll forget what it says.
Re:Coding error is just a bad excuse. (Score:2)
it's just a bad excuse.
DT (Score:4, Informative)
Re:DT (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a country where the president fires anyone with accurate information against him. How can anyone really know what's happening any more?
That's the point. When everything you do is illegal, all you can do is flood the airwaves with garbage. Cut sweetheart deals with child molesters. Bury documents that prove you funded Epstein's crimes and raped children. Invite child molesters to the white house. trumpy sure does love children!
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Don is Gish Galloping the system.
cut it off at the navy (Score:3)
I mean, the other stuff was bad, but what the hell did the Navy do to deserve being cut from the constitution?
Re: cut it off at the navy (Score:5, Funny)
Navy is a shade of blue, so it's obviously a Democrat-oriented wing of the armed forces!
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https://www.capitalgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/CAP-W-MESSWITHTEXAS.jpg?w=1569 [capitalgazette.com]
They are always pushing the boundaries (Score:4, Insightful)
In 6 months they have implemented 47% of project 2025.
If you aren't panicking you should be.
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They have a secret book for project 2025; the parts they thought were too horrible to release in the open! Given how bad an extremely unpopular the public plan already was it makes you wonder what is in the secret plan and just how big that one is. Oh, you can confirm this by the reporters who fooled one of the authors of project 2025 when they pretended to be rich supporters and the guy admitted it's existence and how carefully they loan out the document to avoid leaks or freedom of info requests or even
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If you aren't panicking you should be.
No. The time to panic was back in the 1980s. It is faaaar too late to panic now. Pat Robertson and Ronald Reagan speaking behind closed doors should have panicked you. "Thousand points of light" and "New World Order" should have panicked you. But this? This is when all of those things are being implemented. Now is the time for decisive action unclouded by concerns about whether or not the leaders may have some honor and integrity. They don't have honor and integrity and will do anything to gain and maintain
Hiding in plain sight (Score:1)
The most chilling missing section (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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That said, Lincoln did suspend it before Congress could act when the Civil War broke out. The Court struck that down immediately, but Lincoln dared them to go down to the prison and try to enforce their ruling. Congress did act shortly thereafter, rendering the issue moot.
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Puppets with orange strings who fear being primaried.
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Just like the administration can't enforce tariffs, it's in Article I that only Congress has that authority. It's right there in section 10, one of the ones that "mysteriously" disappeared.
When Congress and the Supreme Court are willing partners to the destruction of constitutional separation of powers, the word "can't" doesn't apply to the administration.
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There are certain exceptions granted to the president, but in no way, shape, or form has the authority to enact blanket tariffs on all goods from the rest of the world ever been granted to the president by congress. It's difficult to justify a national security threat from islands populated entirely by penguins.
You don't think these aren't permanent? The administration thinks they are. Do any of them have an expiration date?
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It's a stupid glitch that means nothing and changes nothing. Let's not pretend otherwise.
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I'm not sure why they're worried about that part. The US has been officially in a state of invasion since March 15th.
A coding error? (Score:3)
Re: A coding error? (Score:2)
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As for how it happened, what do you expect from the Federal workforce besides sloth, apathy, and incompetence?
Juat catching up to reality, then? (Score:2)
Many of the amendments have effectively been struck down by SCOTUS in recent years.
Several remain in effect, but who knows for how long.
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The coding error... (Score:3)
It's a very simple error. You have a codebase that allows high muckity-mucks to make phone calls and yell at people until they delete the parts the the muckity-muck didn't like, and the code didn't stop that from happening. Just completely normal access control things. Totally normal.
Who cares? (Score:3)
It's just a bunch of text. It's not like it's an important document that has any implications for law in the country anymore. May as well print it on toilet paper at this point.
At this point maybe just delete all of it, except the 2nd amendment of course.
It's not a bug, it's a feature! (Score:3, Informative)
Given the ways many citizens rights are being trampled, maybe it wasn't an accident.
https://www.theguardian.com/us... [theguardian.com]
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Curious... (Score:1)
let’s see what SCOTUS says (Score:2)
can’t wait to see the mental gymnastics SCOTUS will use to invalidate amendments to the constitution of the united states of america.
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They already have. Even the "good ones" have given into it out of panic caused by political threats... when they deleted the 14th. They've invented presidential immunity; they dodged birthright citizenship for years maybe to never revisit it.
Their gymnastics are not even impressive. more "mental"... appeal to tradition and not even proven wide spread traditions also, ones from the UK which is not the definitive single source of tradition. One example was Ben Franklin's top selling handbook that was like th
Wokeists memoryholing parts of the Constitution (Score:2)
O’Brien lifted the grating. Unseen, the frail slip of paper was whirling away on the current of warm air; it was vanishing in a flash of flame. O’Brien turned away from the wall.
’Ashes,’ he said. ’Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist. It never existed.’
’But it did exist! It does exist! It exists in memory. I remember it. You remember it.’
’I do not remember it,’ said O’Brien
Animal farm (Score:1)
A Good Alternative (Score:2)
Rather than relying on the "official" version published by a government where people are fire for telling the truth, I rely on [http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/constitution/].
"Coding error" my a$$ (Score:1)
Somebody just accidently typed:
Must have been a (Score:2)
It was George Bush who said 'The Constitution is nothing but a god damn piece of paper!"