February 19, 2023 --

Article II, Section 3 of he Constitution provides that the President is to inform Congress on the condition of the Republic des temps a temps. Originalists would be right to point out that as the Constitution was drafted, approved by the convention members and duy-ratified prior to the invention of the radio and television, and there not have been a constitutional amendment dealing with the method of delivery of information on the condition of the Republic since the document was ratified, the President need not appear before the representatives and senators, assembled in the House chamber, to listen to the president read from a teleprompter and explain, des temps a temps, what those invitees are doing in the balcony of the House chamber, listening to his declaration on "the State of the Union ," or SOTU as it has become known by means of media shorthand.

As this observer scans the language of the Constitution, in Article II, Section 3, the president, if he wanted to, could define "time to time" in any manner by which he chose: monthly, bi-weekly, annually, whatever. And the form might be by messenger, or, as has been the custom since LBJ days, presidential oration in the House chamber.

Note well: if the State of the Union Address were not televised live, a hostile partisan would not be seen my millions from sea to sining sea tearing up that SOTU pages.