Now They Are Going After Hillary

http://www.alternet.org/rights/145765/obscure_law_could_cost_hillary_clinton_her_cabinet_post

Mother Jones / By Stephanie Mencimer
Obscure Law Could Cost Hillary Clinton Her Cabinet Post
Conspiracy theorists who started the birther lie are now targeting Clinton's eligibility for office, over an obscure provision in the Constitution.
February 23, 2010 |

Ever since Barack Obama started running for the White House, he's been plagued by lawsuits from detractors who claim that he is not a natural-born citizen, and thus is ineligible to serve as president. Now the devoted conspiracy theorists of the so-called "eligibility movement" have a fresh target: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And there's a chance that the Supreme Court might hear their challenge.

In January 2009, a longtime foreign service officer named David C. Rodearmel sued Hillary Clinton in federal court in DC arguing that an obscure provision of the Constitution blocks her from serving in Obama's Cabinet because of her previous stint in the U.S. Senate. This argument isn't as nutty as those used in the numerous lawsuits disputing Obama's citizenship -- in fact, it previously prevented Orrin Hatch from becoming a Supreme Court justice.

Rodearmel is relying on what's known as the Emoluments Clause, which bars members of Congress from taking a federal civil job if Congress raised the salary for that job while they were still in office. The secretary of state's salary went up in 2008, while Clinton was still in the Senate. The provision, which was designed to combat corruption, has long been a headache for presidents seeking to tap members of Congress for their Cabinets. They've typically solved the problem by resorting to what's known as the "Saxbe fix" -- a move named after William Saxbe, a Republican Ohio senator Richard Nixon installed as attorney general during the Watergate scandal.

The fix is simple. All Congress has to do is repeal any pay raises for a given position so that the salary is the same as it was before the nominee's last term of elected office. Most modern presidents have adopted this solution, and after Obama nominated Clinton for secretary of state, Congress duly repealed the pay raises for the position that had gone into effect while she was serving in the Senate. Yet the fix has always been somewhat controversial. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan decided that the Emoluments Clause barred him from nominating Utah Senator Orrin Hatch to a Supreme Court seat, and he nominated Anthony Kennedy instead. Now, Rodearmel thinks the clause should be enforced against Clinton -- as well as all the other former senators in the Obama administration.

:eyes:

to do? Nevermind, forget I asked!

he set Hillary's Secretary of State salary, and she agreed, to the same as the senate seat. And it was approved by those who reviewed the provision. So how come they can stand up now and start all over. This is ridiculous. It seems if the republicans don't get their way about something, they try to get the people thrown out of office on obscure charges. OR to try to make their job so miserable they would want to resign. ENOUGH. How about us as US citizens taking these people to court for some obscure reason.

Nothing out of ordinary with the procedure. I have no opinion as to the merit.

Now they're even repeating last season's crackpot constitutional theories?

of something similar. I know this was brought up and addressed before Hillary Clinton took office. I'm guessing yet another FAIL for these cretins.

"obscure". That is just propaganda.

And any portion of the Constitution that kept Orrin Hatch off of the SCOTUS can't be all bad.