Could Hillary Clinton's "Emoluments" Keep Her From Becoming POTUS Barack Obama's Secretary Of State? Maybe NOT. Read More Below.

"Judicial Watch, a watchdog group that made a name for itself investigating the Clinton administration in the 1990s, raised the matter Tuesday with a statement asserting that Mrs. Clinton was ineligible to become secretary of state because of the so-called “Emoluments Clause” of the Constitution. By the end of the day, Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, was consulting with Republican colleagues in hopes of putting together a bill to address the issue.

The issue stems from Article I, Section 6, of the Constitution, which says: “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 increased during such time.” Emoluments refers to compensation.

After Mrs. Clinton’s last Senate election in 2006, the salary for secretary of state and other cabinet positions was increased to $191,300 from $186,600. In the past, Congress has gotten around this by passing a resolution cutting the salary for the office at stake back to what it was before the nominee’s most recent election.

This became known as the “Saxbe fix,” after it was used to facilitate President Richard M. Nixon’s appointment of Senator William Saxbe of Ohio as attorney general. It happened most recently 16 years ago when incoming President Bill Clinton made Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas his treasury secretary.

“It’s been dealt with each and every time,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Mr. Reid. “We’re confident it can be dealt with this time.” Mr. Manley said it was unclear whether the measure could be passed during a lame-duck session next week. “We’re trying to work on this as quickly as possible,” he said.

Judicial Watch, and some legal scholars, argued that the Saxbe fix is insufficient because the constitutional clause says a senator is ineligible if the salary was raised, which it was in this case, even if it is subsequently cut again."

Editor's comment: I think the Founding Fathers enacted this provision to prevent public corruption, though I am of the opinion that they intended to prohibit situations where a CONgressperson votes to pass legislation increasing their own salaries with knowledge that they would be the ultimate beneficiary of the largess.

Since Hillary Clinton could not have anticipated that she would be the beneficiary of the increase in the Secretary Of State's salary, a simple reversal of her salary to the salary the position was prior to being a Senator -- the so called "Saxbe" fix -- ought to suffice for constitutional purposes.