The United States public debt is a measure of the obligations of the United States federal government and is presented by the United States Treasury in two components and one total:
Debt Held by the Public, representing all federal securities held by institutions or individuals outside the federal government, including that held by the Federal Reserve System and state and local governments;[1]
Intragovernmental Holdings, representing U.S. Treasury securities held in accounts which are administered by the federal government, such as the OASI Trust fund administered by the Social Security Administration; and
Total Public Debt Outstanding, which is the sum of the above components.[2]
Wikipedia
Section 4 confirmed the legitimacy of all United States public debt appropriated by the Congress. It also confirmed that neither the United States nor any state would pay for the loss of slaves or debts that had been incurred by the Confederacy. For example, several English and French banks had lent money to the South during the war.[48] In Perry v. United States (1935), the Supreme Court ruled that under Section 4 voiding a United States government bond "went beyond the congressional power."[49] Legal analyst Jeffrey Rosen has argued that Section 4 gives the president unilateral authority to raise or ignore the national debt ceiling, and that if challenged the Supreme Court would likely rule in favor of expanded executive power or dismiss the case altogether for lack of standing.
Power of enforcement
Main article: Congressional power of enforcement
Section 5, the last section, was construed broadly by the Supreme Court in Katzenbach v. Morgan (1966).[51] However, the Court, in City of Boerne v. Flores (1997), said: Any suggestion that Congress has a substantive, non-remedial power under the Fourteenth Amendment is not supported by our case law.[
More below the fold.
Section 4 confirmed the legitimacy of all United States public debt appropriated by the Congress.
Once Congress appropriates expenditures in excess of the "Debt Ceiling", is that not a de facto increase in the Debt Ceiling under the terms of the 14th Amendment, Section 4?
It would appear that Boehner and the tea baggers raised the debt ceiling some time ago.
Any suggestion that Congress has a substantive, non-remedial power under the Fourteenth Amendment is not supported by our case law.