The LA Times is reporting Colorado Senator Ken Salazar will be nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to be Secretary of the Interior (nod: FiveThirtyEight). From the LA Times:
If confirmed, Salazar would head a department with a broad portfolio, including managing the troubled Bureau of Indian Affairs. Salazar, 53, would also oversee the nation’s national parks and other large swaths of public lands, making him the country’s foremost landlord. And he would be responsible for the Bureau of Land Management, which sets policy for oil and gas drilling, mining and other resource extraction on public land.
But guess what? Senator Salazar will be another senator appointed to a civil office that received a pay raise while the senator was serving his or her term. So, like Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Salazar is constitutionally ineligible from becoming a cabinet secretary. But I imagine, also like Senator Clinton, Congress will issue a Saxbe Fix for him.
So isn’t it about time we discuss changing Article I, Section 6? I’m not saying remove it, but at least add language to the effect of “unless Congress shall by law provide for a Senator or Represenatative to be appointed to the civil office” etc. so the Saxbe Fix isn’t so questionable any more.
