There has been a lot of speculation that Hillary Clinton will be Obama's pick for Secretary of State. However, there may be a problem with that: The United States Constitution.
Article I, Section 6 of the document says that no member of Congress, during the term for which he was elected, shall be named to any office "the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during his term." This is a problem since the pay for the position of Secretary of State was increased during Clinton's current term in the Senate.
This unusual circumstance has arisen before and has been solved by giving the incoming official a pay cut. The last two times this has arisen, however, was with Republican Presidents. While the appointments (with pay cuts) were approved, some Democrats at the time questioned the legality of the maneuver. Now those objections may come back to haunt them.
On the other hand, George W. Bush spent the last eight pissing all over the Constitution, so maybe Article One, Section Six is no longer legible.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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