Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Interior Department Secretary Kenneth Salazar are not constitutionally disqualified to serve in executive offices, the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel said in an opinion released this month.
President Barack Obama’s appointment of Clinton and Salazar, former U.S. senators, did not violate the constitution’s Ineligibility Clause, which bans a member of Congress from profiting from appointment to an executive office.
Legislation that rolls back the executive office’s salary prior to appointment of the member of Congress is enough to comply with the clause, according the OLC opinion. David Barron, acting assistant attorney general, wrote the opinion, which is dated May 20.
The OLC opinion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 20, the same day Justice lawyers filed a motion to dismiss a suit that alleges Clinton is ineligible to serve as secretary of state despite the salary rollback legislation in December. The opinion (.pdf) was posted on the OLC home page earlier this month and marks the first published publicly under Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.
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1 comment:
Isn't it interesting how Republicans are now concerned about breaking the Constitution but for over 8 years it was done with no problem and if you did say something you were called unpatriotic. Goldman Sachs CEO became US Treasury Secretary while still holding millions in Stocks from Goldman Sachs and then went on to make sure Goldman Sachs got Trillions of taxpayers dollars with nothing said of conflict. This is just another example of how Americans don't know anything about how the US Govenment works nor what is said in the US Constitution. You can bet Foreign Countries could tell you everything about the US and how it's laws are enacted.
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