"Constitutional question: Congressmen as Naval officers" Topic

Article I, Secion 6:
"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; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office."

Does the phrase "any Office under the United States" refer to a commissioned military officer?
If so, I know that this was more honored in the breach than in the practice. See Grant's woes, for one thing.

I ask because the Congressman (Carney, D, PA) in the next district is a reserve Naval officer (Commander), and has bragged about being the officer in charge of Predator drones. "I am in the Kill Chain." It was a big kerfluffle this week on local talk radio.
He's a Blue Dog Democrat, and the reactions have been what one would expect from talk radio.

My interpretation of the Clause cited above would be that he should have to resign his commission on being elected to Congress, but what do I know?

No Blyue Fezzy digressions, please. I merely want to know if my interpretation is correct, and if so, how it gets evaded.

'any Civil Office' seems to say no, i.e., the 'any Office' refers back. And an officer does not hold an office, he/she holds a commission. So, I say, no, but like you, 'what do I know?' I do know the issue has been raised regarding Hilary Clinton, who voted on pay raises for civil servants as a senator. I believe some folks are pushing that into the legal blood bowls.

Civil refers to civilian offices specifically. In other words, you can't hold more than 1 civil post.

In other words think of that great patron saint of Louisiana Huey P. Long. He violated the above clause by being both a Senator from Louisiana and Governor AT HE SAME TIME. That I believe is illegal.

Probably not illegal as a Governor of Louisiana does not fall under the authority of the feds. Unethical, yes. But ethics are relative as we all know.

I do know that Mayor Laguardia held an army commission in World War I and did not resign his congressional seat. He used his congressional power to great effect in getting the Army Air Service off the ground, pun intended.

Civil office kind of tells you exactly what it is, a Civilian post, not a military one.

The Office under the United States reflects back to the oriinal sentence, and an Office is a post, not a rank.

If he had been a Mayor then that would be heading to the sort of problem you were hoping for.

OFM, Lyndon Johnson held a commission as an Officer of
the Armed Services while serving as a Congresscritter
from Texas (WWII).

I believe, as posters upthread do, that the 'civil' is
what applies. A commission as serving officer would not
serve to deny one the ability to hold elected office.

There are several members of congress, R and D in the House and Senate, who hold commissions in the Reserves or Guard.

On top of which, this refers to offices CREATED during the office holders tenure in congress, or the compensation changed during the tenure of the congressperson. For example, there was some debate about Hillary Clinton becoming Secy of State because she had voted on the salary during her tenure in the Senate. To get around this, she took the old salary. SCOTUS has accepted this as within the spirit of the law in previous instances.

Barry Goldwater was a Reserve USAF General and a Senator with zero kerfluffles.

Wasn't Dan Sickles a Congresscritter while getting blown up at Gettysburg?

Tis one of hte times the talk radio tries to make more of an issue than is there. THere are potentially mildly conflicty questions – a comgressman swings a lot more weight than a commander, so the military career of the congressman is pretty well assured

Again as other folk have pointed out, that wording doesn't preclude them taking up a Civil Office actually, just not one that has been created nor one that the individual set the remuneration for.

So mayor is OK, being a Senator, helping set up the Secretariat of the Intertubes in your District with a $2M a year salary and then taking up the Secretary post, is not.

I suspect this is a hang-over from British law. A Member of Parliment is not allowed to hold "an office for profit under the crown." Applying for such an office is the way that an MP resigns before the callling of an election.

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