Odds And Ends, The "Can Do Anything" Edition
A Senate update:
-- Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg "can do anything" she sets out to do, said NY Mayor Mike Bloomberg today, boosting buzz that the former first daughter is the leading contender to take over Hillary Clinton's NY Senate seat. She -- or anyone who succeeds Clinton -- would serve for two years before running for a special electioni n 2010 and then again for re-election in 2012. Clinton is expected to stay in her seat until she is confirmed as Sec of State.
-- Democrat Al Franken's campaign pulled another 425 ballot challenges today, a campaign spokesman tells On Call, bringing the total yanked to 1058. Sen. Norm Coleman's camp has dropped about 650. And that search for the missing 133 Minneapolis ballots was called off today. The state canvassing board will decide if those ballots are ultimately counted.
-- IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich met with Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. today to discuss his interest in succeeding Barack Obama as the state's junior senator. Jackson, son of the civil rights leader, has made an open pitch for the job. Blagojevich isn't talking, but reports indicate that there are many others in the mix. Among them: state AG Lisa Madigan, state Vets chief Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
Dinner for two:
-- The New York Times reported today that HRC will dine at The Watergate this evening with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Rice lives in the storied building. Will she tickle the ivories for the next queen of Foggy Bottom?
Made In The USA:
-- The Supreme Court opted today to bypass a challenge to Obama's citizenship. A New Jersey voter argued that he had joint citizenship at birth, the whole Kenyan father, Kansan mother pitch, you'll recall, and was therefore not a "natural born citizen." But the highest court in the land thought better of it, and the rumors will have to live on in cyberspace, not in the American legal system.
December 5, 2008
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is constitutionally ineligible to serve as Secretary of State in the Obama administration.
According to the Ineligibility Clause of the United States Constitution, no member of Congress can be appointed to an office that has benefited from a salary increase during the time that Senator or Representative served in Congress. A January 2008 Executive Order signed by President Bush during Hillary Clinton’s current Senate term increased the salary for Secretary of State, thereby rendering Senator Clinton ineligible for the position.
Specifically, Article I, section 6 of the U.S. Constitution provides “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 encreased during such time.” The provision is seen by most as designed by our Founding Fathers to protect against corruption.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Former President Richard Nixon circumvented this constitutional provision after appointing former Ohio Senator William Saxbe to the position of Attorney General. The Nixon administration managed to force legislation through Congress to reduce the salary for the position of Attorney General to the level that existed prior to Senator Saxbe’s appointment. This scheme, known thereafter as “The Saxbe Fix,” was also used to allow Senator Lloyd Bentsen to assume the position of Treasury Secretary under President Clinton.
“The Saxbe Fix” may reduce the salary of Secretary of State to previous levels, but it does not affect what is a clear constitutional prohibition. It cannot change the fact that the salary had been increased while Senator Clinton served in Congress. (President Ronald Reagan reportedly did not appoint Senator Orrin Hatch to the Supreme Court because of this provision.) Simply put, the Constitution does not provide for a legislative remedy for the Ineligibility Clause.
“There’s no getting around the Constitution’s Ineligibility Clause, so Hillary Clinton is prohibited from serving in the Cabinet until at least 2013, when her current term expires,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Barack Obama should select someone who is eligible for the position of Secretary of State and save the country from a constitutional battle over Hillary Clinton’s confirmation. No public official who has taken the oath to support and defend the Constitution should support this appointment. And aside from the constitutional issue, Hillary Clinton’s long track record of corruption makes her a terrible choice to serve as the nation’s top diplomat.”