From the Tumblr Debt Ceiling Cat.
Also, the 14th amendment is being thrown around. Here's the relevant text.
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.
A relevant case, perhaps, is Perry v United States 1935.
The Fourteenth Amendment, in its fourth section, explicitly declares: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, . . . shall not be questioned." While this provision was undoubtedly inspired by the desire to put beyond question the obligations of the Government issued during the Civil War, its language indicates a broader connotation. We regard it as confirmatory of a fundamental principle, which applies as well to the government bonds in question, and to others duly authorized by the Congress, as to those issued before the Amendment was adopted. Nor can we perceive any reason for not considering the expression "the validity of the public debt" as embracing whatever concerns the integrity of the public obligations.
which a contemporary legal scholar, Henry Hart Jr, wrote at the time
what was confusing to the reporter at the first reading is even more so to the commentator at the hundredth. Few more baffling pronouncements, it is fair to say, have ever issued from the United States Supreme Court.
The dissenting opinion in this case is as strongly worded as any: from Justice McReynolds
Loss of reputation for honorable dealing will bring us unending humiliation; the impending legal and moral chaos is appalling.
Oh, let's hope to not have to go there.
