RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Obama Makes His First Attack On The Constitution

The biggest obstacle facing Hillary Clinton's Senate confirmation as President-elect Barack Obama's top diplomat may not be her husband's wheeling and dealing abroad for his foundation, as many suspected.

Instead, it could be the U.S. Constitution.

According to an emolument clause in the Constitution, no lawmaker can be appointed to any civil position that was created or received a wage increase during the lawmaker's time in office.

President Bush ordered Cabinet salaries raised to $191,300 from $186,600 by executive order early this year, while Clinton was senator.

"My understanding is that does prohibit her unless they can find some way around it and I gather that they have in the past," former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger told FOX News.

"This isn't the first time this has come up," he said, referring to appointees of other presidents. "Maybe she has to renounce the salary increase but I'm sure they'll find a way around it."

The Obama transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

Some constitutional lawyers don't foresee the provision derailing Clinton's nomination.

"I don't believe it presents a serious issue because the legislative fix which has been done in the past is perfectly constitutional," said Adam Bonin, an attorney at the Philadelphia law firm of Cozen O'Connor.

The legislation that Bonin referred to is the "Saxbe fix" that allowed President Richard Nixon to name Ohio Sen. William Saxbe his Attorney General.

The attorney general's salary was raised during Saxbe's term in 1969 but Nixon convinced Congress to lower Saxbe's salary to what it was before 1969.

The most recent case involved Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, who was nominated to be President-elect Bill Clinton's treasury secretary in 1993. To avoid conflict, Congress passed legislation lowering the salary of that position to its 1989 level.

Bonin believes Congress should pass similar legislation for Clinton.

"I think that's the safe move to make," he said, adding that he believes Clinton could be confirmed without a legislative fix because Congress didn't vote for Bush's pay raise.

Daniel Dreisdach, a professor of law at American University, said it would be difficult for anyone to use the provision to challenge Clinton's confirmation.

"In this respect, it's a bit analogous to this question of whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen," he said, referring to a lawsuit, dismissed last month, seeking to obtain a copy of Obama's Hawaii birth certificate.

"Then it becomes who has legal standing to challenge his credentials as president or Hillary Clinton's assumption of the office," he said.

Dreisdach said as long as Democrats control the Senate, the Obama transition team won't worry about this provision in the Constitution.

"The Obama team is well aware of it and they have dismissed it," Dreisdach said. "I find it hard to believe that a Democratic majority will take a different view."

BTW I originaly saw this similar article on a liberal website that doesn't care for Hillary Clinton.

Did you send them an angry e-mail?

Just because a wrong has been done in the past does not mean it was okay.

Really, a bigger issue should be whether or not she's qualified, given her long history of shenanigans in various offices, including as First Lady and her laughable foreign policy experience (sniper fire in Bosnia, anyone?).

I don't think G doubts that she'll get the job (the senate is a club that sticks together no matter what in most cases) he is wondering if she should.

if you know what he means...

It's not the Christmas rush that's causing gun and ammunition dealers across Central and Eastern Kentucky — like their counterparts across the nation — to run out of stock and see sales doubling.

Rather, gun shop owners from Lexington, Frankfort and Hazard say the surge is a result of customers thinking that President-elect Barack Obama will reinstate a 1994 federal assault weapons ban or push for other gun restrictions.

"They are afraid that Obama will put the Clinton ban back on," said Michael Campbell, who saw his sales figures at J.T.'s Gun and Pawn Shop in Hazard increase from $15,000 in November 2007 to $50,000 last month. "It's crazy. Instead of selling one box of ammunition, we are selling a case."

Limits were placed on high-capacity handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons under the presidency of Bill Clinton. The assault weapons ban became law in 1994. When it expired in 2004, President George W. Bush did not reintroduce it.

Nationally, the FBI is reporting that criminal background checks required to purchase a gun were up 41 percent for Nov. 1-23 compared with the same period last year, and up 49 percent the week that Obama was elected.

The Illinois Supreme Court says Secretary of State Jesse White doesn't need to sign Roland Burris' appointment to the U.S. Senate to make it valid.

The ruling says no Illinois official has to do anything further to validate the appointment made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Burris was refused President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat this week in part because Senate Democratic leaders said his paperwork was incomplete without White's signature.

But the ruling may not lead to Burris being seated.

"Mr. Burris is exactly where he was a week ago," a senior Democratic aide told FOX News. "He does not have a valid certificate, and we cannot seat him."

The state Supreme Court says nothing in state law requires White to sign the appointment.

White has said he wouldn't certify any Blagojevich appointment in the wake of the governor's federal corruption arrest unless the court forced him to.

Blagojevich was impeached Friday.