Coding Error Blamed After Parts of Constitution Disappear From US Website (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0178596060
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/08/06/2054236/coding-error-blamed-after-parts-of-constitution-disappear-from-us-website
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/coding-error-blamed-after-parts-of-constitution-disappear-from-us-website/
> The Library of Congress today said a coding error [1]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 [2]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."
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> "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 [3]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.
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> 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 [4]on Reddit and in [5]news [6]articles , with people expressing suspicions based on which parts of the Constitution were missing.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/coding-error-blamed-after-parts-of-constitution-disappear-from-us-website/
[2] https://constitution.congress.gov/
[3] https://bsky.app/profile/librarycongress.bsky.social/post/3lvqilhwb6k2x
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/centrist/comments/1mj6hi7/congressgov_has_removed_parts_of_the_constitution/
[5] https://www.404media.co/constitution-sections-on-due-process-and-foreign-gifts-just-vanished-from-congress-website/
[6] https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/key-sections-of-the-us-constitution-deleted-from-governments-website/
Figures. (Score:3, Funny)
Never let the Federalist Society do your CRM implementation.
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing anyone from the Federalist Society is qualified to do, it's cause their own funeral. Nobody should take anything they have to say as anything other than antiamerican crap.
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Well I heard they were having AI determine what regulations why want to eliminate so it makes sense thier conservative mindset AI got rid of parts of the constitution too.
Re:Coding error? (Score:4, 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)
I hope you meant CMS. I fell asleep for 10 years woke up to needing a Salesforce implementation to run my own blog
Re: (Score:2)
Doh! Yes, of course I did - no idea how I managed to turn that into "CRM".
Re: (Score:2)
I thought you were talking about CRM until you mentioned Salesforce, and then I realized you were talking about a sex cult described as a corporation.
Re: (Score:2)
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.
DT (Score:4, Informative)
It's a country where the president fires anyone with accurate information against him. How can anyone really know what's happening any more?
Re: (Score:2)
> 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!
cut it off at the navy (Score:2)
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:4, Funny)
Navy is a shade of blue, so it's obviously a Democrat-oriented wing of the armed forces!
Re: (Score:2)
Drunk pete hegseth passed out and is turning blue. hegseth is a democrat!!!
Re: (Score:2)
Someone flew this right over Annapolis this week
[1]https://www.capitalgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/CAP-W-MESSWITHTEXAS.jpg?w=1569 [capitalgazette.com]
[1] https://www.capitalgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/CAP-W-MESSWITHTEXAS.jpg?w=1569
They are always pushing the boundaries (Score:3)
Of what they can get away with and seeing how much they can get you used to sucking down.
In 6 months they have implemented 47% of project 2025.
If you aren't panicking you should be.
Hiding in plain sight (Score:1)
Innocent people don't use their power to bury documents that prove they are innocent. trump funded Jeffy's crimes and rapes children!
The most chilling missing section (Score:4, 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.
A coding error? (Score:3)
A coding error in pretty static code that was not found in dev, qc/testing and was moved into production? Who is getting paid? what? to run this clown show?
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.
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:2, Informative)
Given the ways many citizens rights are being trampled, maybe it wasn't an accident.
[1]https://www.theguardian.com/us... [theguardian.com]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/05/us-citizens-jailed-ice-los-angeles?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Curious... (Score:1)
This is both too specific to be random and too ineffectual to be deliberate.
Re: (Score:2)
Damn it, big balls! You're supposed to erase the right to a fair trial and due process. So trump, keep your children away from him, can arrest and deport all his perceived enemies. Just like Nixon, except orange.
Just kidding, trump ignores the constitution anyways.
Re: (Score:3)
This is more terrifying than anything. From the man who vowed to only be a dictator on his first day. [1]https://apnews.com/article/tru... [apnews.com]
[1] https://apnews.com/article/trump-hannity-dictator-authoritarian-presidential-election-f27e7e9d7c13fabbe3ae7dd7f1235c72