Officials say coding error caused parts of constitution to vanish from website

Parts of the U.S. Constitution vanished from an official government website due to coding error, the Library of Congress said on Wednesday.

“It has been brought to our attention that some sections of Article 1 are missing from the Constitution Annotated (https://constitution.congress.gov) website,“ the library wrote on X Wednesday. ”We’ve learned that this is due to a coding error. We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon.”

The two sections of Article 1 missing from Constitution Annotated are Sections 9 and 10.

Article 1, Section 9, contains language that prohibits citizens from facing unlawful detention. The section states that habeas corpus cannot be suspended in cases of rebellion or invasion when public safety requires it.

Habeas corpus allows people to challenge the legality of their detention or imprisonment before a judge.

Article 1, Section 9, also contains language that forbids bills of attainder.

Bills of attainder are laws directed against a specific person or group of people, making them automatically guilty of crimes, without a judicial trial.

Article 1, Section 10, limits the individual powers of states, reading that no state is allowed to enter into a treaty with a foreign nation.

It also says that states are not allowed to pass bills of attainder.

Section 10 also contains language that prohibits states, except with the approval of Congress, from collecting taxes on imports or exports, building an army or keeping warships during times of peace, or engaging in war unless invaded or in imminent danger.

Changes were made to the website in the past month, according to the Wayback Machine, which shows the full original text was still on Congress’s website as of July 17, TechCrunch reported.

MassLive previously reported the missing sections Wednesday afternoon. As of 1:39 p.m., sections 9 and 10 are still missing.