Constitutional Question
Has anyone seen any discussion in TPM world about the constitutional issue regarding Hillary Clinton being nominated for Secretary of State? Apparently at least some legal scholars believe Article I, Section 6 effectively prohibits her because she was in office when the salaries of Cabinet officers were increased. I'm curious to know if anyone thinks this will be a significant issue either in Obama's final decision to select her or, if she is nominated, in the Senate confirmation hearings. It seems to me if this is an issue for her, it would be for any member of Congress being named to the Cabinet. An interesting thought: had this problem occurred to Obama, a former teacher of Constitutional Law, before Pete Williams of NBC raised it on MSNBC earlier this week?
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See the Washington Post article in the 44 Blog called the "Saxbe Fix" for Hillary
Basically, with a few manuevers this is probably not a problem.
November 29, 2008 10:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
If link doesn't work, try, try again... *Sigh* ....
November 29, 2008 10:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the reference and the link Jade.
November 29, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hadn't heard it, thanks for bringing it up.
My sense is that Senator Clinton, due to her husband, will be most thoroughly vetted. I think that Obama wouldn't bother if he thought there was a problem.
November 30, 2008 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Section 6 provision also bars congressfolk from any federal office created during their terms of office.
So if Obama were to establish a new position of, say, automotive czar, current legislators would be ineligible for the job.
And in that case no "Saxbe fix" would be possible.
Stupid but fascinating.
November 30, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink