Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Does Senator Kennedy Need Congressional Permission for His Knighthood?
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_01-2009_03_07.shtml#1236190052
The [1]New York Times Caucus blog reports (quoting Prime Minister
Gordon Brown) that the Queen of England "has awarded an honorary
Knighthood for Sir Edward Kennedy." A couple of people have asked:
Does this require Congressional approval, under article I, � 9 of the
Constitution, "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under
[the United States], shall, without the consent of the Congress,
accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind
whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State"?
I'm no expert on the subject (though I'm not sure whether anyone is),
but my tentative thinking is that membership in the Senate or the
House is not an "Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States]."
Three pieces of evidence for this:
1. Article II, � 1 provides that "no Senator or Representative, or
Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United
States, shall be appointed an Elector." This strongly suggests
that "Senator or Representative" and "Person holding an Office of
Trust or Profit" are two different things.
2. Article I, � 6, provides that "no Person holding any Office under
the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his
Continuance in Office." This likewise suggests that "Office under
the United States" doesn't include membership in Congress.
3. There's 1790s Senate precedent for the proposition that a Senator
is not a "Civil Officer[] of the United States" for purpose of
impeachment, though the question is not free of controversy.
Note that the situation with Alcee Hastings, an impeached and removed
federal judge who became a Representative, doesn't shed light on the
subject. Article I, � 3 does allow the Senate to include
"disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or
Profit under the United States" as part of the "Judgment in Cases of
Impeachment"; the Hastings situation might thus have tested whether
membership in Congress is an "Office of honor, Trust or Profit under
the United States" -- but it didn't, because the Senate didn't include
such a disqualification within its judgment (a decision that was for
the Senate to make).
If any of you have more information on this, please do pass it along,
since this post is the result of only a bit of quick research on my
part.
References
1.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/kennedy-knight-of-the-british-empire/
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