Crush Liberalism

Can Hillary be the Secretary of State?

Her anemic credentials notwithstanding, there may be a bigger obstacle to Hill taking the Sec State gig: the Constitution.  From Marc Ambinder:

Pete Williams of NBC raised the question on MSNBC this afternoon: Is Hillary Clinton barred by the Constitution from accepting the post of secretary of state?

Article One, Section Six of the U.S. Constitution says:

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

The Constitution may be unimportant to a no-name Pittsburgh city councilwoman, but it’s oh-so-slightly more important in D.C.  Has this happened before?  Yes:

This is not the first time this Article has stood in the way of a cabinet appointment. In 1973, at the height of Watergate, President Richard Nixon nominated William Saxbe (R) to be Attorney General and the issue was raised because Saxbe was in the Senate in 1969 when the Attorney General’s pay was raised.

In that instance, Congress lowered the pay for the AG, allowing the appointment to proceed. Democratic Senators complained, however, and 10 senators actually voted against the transparent scheme on constitutional grounds. At the time, Sen. Robert C. Byrd deemed it was clearly unconstitutional saying we should not delude the American people into thinking a way can be found around the constitutional obstacle.

It will be interesting to see if Sen. Byrd (D-KKK) has any similar constitutional concerns as he did 30+ years ago.  Then again, liberals have said they want judges who are willing to ignore the Constitution if it advances the liberal agenda, so I doubt they lose any sleep over this matter.

November 26, 2008 - Posted by crushliberalism | Constitution, Hillary, Obama