Edward Snowden’s disclosure of national security information is the newest chapter in the United States’ long and complicated history with government leaks. Such disclosures can help to root out illegal and unconstitutional behavior that might otherwise evade scrutiny. And yet, unlike the press, government leakers are often assumed to have no claim to constitutional protections. National security leaks are treated as an opportunity to discuss the constitutionality of underlying government conduct or the balance of federal powers, but there is little reflection on the leaker who made the discussion possible. This Note addresses that oversight by focusing our attention on the Constitution’s treatment of government officials who choose to leak. In so doing, it asks us to consider the duty of executive officers to affirmatively support the Constitution, itself required by the very text of the Article VI Oath Clause.

This Note presents one of the first concentrated studies of the Article VI Oath Clause, drawing upon its text, structure, and history to draw out the obligation it places on executive officers to resist unconstitutional government behavior. It also explains how recent developments in national security, secret keeping, and the doctrine of standing render the Article VI duty even more critical. At the same time, this Note departs from other literature by recognizing that unfettered disclosures of broad swaths of information are constitutionally indefensible. I contend that the Article VI duty should generally be limited to Article II executive officers, that it endorses some but not all affirmative disclosures, and that it anticipates constitutional interpretation as a shared enterprise between the judiciary and those officers. This Note concludes by discussing the implications of the duty, both suggesting potential legal and policy solutions and reflecting on our assumptions about constitutional interpretation and enforcement.