Hillary Clinton might be barred from being Secretary of State by the United States Constitution.
Simply, a member of Congress cannot move to an appointed government position if the salary of that appointed position has been raised during that Congressperson's current term in office.
In other words, after Senator Clinton was elected to the Senate, the salary of Secretary of State has gone up. Therefore, according to the Constitution (maybe... let our panties remain unbunched for now**) she can't take the job.
But seriously: Why is that? What kind of circumstance were the Founding Fathers envisioning that made them put that nifty speed bump in the Constitution? In modern times, almost every federal position has its salary adjusted more than once every 6 years, which makes it impossible for a United States Senator to be appointed to a cabinet position.
I don't care for Hillary much anymore, and I'm ambivalent about her heading up the State Department; but I don't think she should be disqualified from the position based on a Constitutional cantrip. It's a bad precedent too.
(** I figure all Hillary has to do is resign her Senate seat, and then she is no longer an active Senator, and can then take the job. It's just that this is such a no-shit solution, that it might be considered an implicit premise of the law.)
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