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08/12/2012

Seth Barrett Tillman: Paul Ryan Could Be a Congressman AND Vice President
Michael Ramsey

Seth Barrett Tillman emails:

It has been reported that Ryan will appear on the ballot for both the VP spot and his current House seat.

You may remember that I argued circa 2008 that the Incompatibility Clause (U.S. Const. art. 1 s. 6 cl. 2) prevents a member of Congress only from holding an appointed or statutory office, not from holding an elected federal position (President or VP). In short, I argued that Senator Obama could -- should he win the 2008 presidential race -- keep his Senate seat.

The same principles would apply to Ryan -- in theory, he could sit in the House and be VP. My position led to two academic exchanges ... see below ...  

Seth Barrett Tillman & Steven G. Calabresi, Debate, The Great Divorce: The Current Understanding of Separation of Powers and the Original Meaning of the Incompatibility Clause, 157 U. Pa. L. Rev. PENNumbra 134 (2008), appearing at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1292359

Seth Barrett Tillman, Why Our Next President May Keep His or Her Senate Seat: A Conjecture on the Constitution's Incompatibility Clause, 4 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol'y 107 (2009), available at http://tinyurl.com/4j5mjx

Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash, Response, Why the Incompatibility Clause Applies to
the Office of President, 4 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol'y 143 (2009), available [here].