Pajamas media (Steve Gill) reports:
The selection of Hillary Clinton for secretary of state reveals that President-elect Barack Obama does not limit his lack of appreciation for the Constitution to just the First and Second Amendments. While there has been plenty of analysis focused on whether or not this is a good political decision, the choice may actually reveal more about Obama’s respect or disrespect for the Constitution than about his political judgment.
The Emoluments Clause in 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.” On January 4, 2008, President Bush issued Executive Order 13454, which increased the “Emoluments” (salary) of the secretary of state position. Hillary Clinton, as an elected senator from New York at the time and with a current term of office that runs through the end of 2010, would seem to fall clearly within the definition of a “senator” under this clause.
I don't expect any more adherence to this provision of our supreme law than the Tenth Amendment.
Much more detailed analysis here and here.
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Interesting, but not to worry, MWC. HRC's appointment must be kosher since Clinton and Barack are lawyers, members of the elite class of citizens many voters deem automatically qualified and competent to hold high office, regardless of Constitutional strictures to the contrary.
None of these intentional lapses would even have been contemplated had not the legal-politico complex not attained critical mass by Bill Clinton's first term in office. Remember the Waco travesty? Now we are presented a stubborn suspicion concerning Obama's natural citizenship.
True to their lawyerly backgrounds they will tell us nothing while setting precedents to upend existing rules with which ordinary citizens were once familiar.
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