A Little Bit of Ignorance

Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA)  is now a knight. No, he wasn’t knighted by Queen Elizabeth, but rather by the Nation of Lesotho. There’s just a small problem as Richard Gardner points out. This violates the Constitution which states:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, 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.

Thus, as he had no Congressional permission, McDermott violated the plain letter of the Constitution. Of course, some might argue, “What’s the big deal?”

There’s a certain point to this. After all, the constitution is little read, little considered, and little understood despite a large number of public officials to do so. As McDermott and his colleagues regularly step outside of their Constitutional role into interferring in matters the Constitution leaves to the states, what’s another violation on top of it?

The McDermott situation points to how casually members of Congress take their oaths and how little they understand the document they were sworn to uphold. If McDermott had done these two things, he would have respectfully declined Lesotho’s offer or said, “Our Constitution requires that Congress grant me permission, I’d be happy to accept once that happens.” Instead, McDermott took it without a second thought and the odds of him being called on it are nill.

Linked by Huckleberries.