Quick Links: FAQ  Topics  Forums  Documents  Timeline  Kids  Vermont Constitution  Map  Citation  

Constitutional FAQ Answer #158

<<Previous Question | Question Index | Subject Index | Constitutional Index | Next Question>>

Q158. "If an attorney is an officer of the court — is it legal for attorneys to be members of Congress — since they would then be serving in both the judicial and legislative branches of government — or is it permissible to serve in two separate branches concurrently?"

A. It is unconstitutional for a person to serve in two branches of the government at once. However, a lawyer, being an "officer of the court", is not a member of the judicial branch in that sense, so a lawyer is not then barred from being a member of the legislative branch solely because of that profession. The Supreme Court ruled on a case like this in Cammer v U.S. (350 US 399 [1956]) — if a lawyer is not an officer of court that can be summarily tried for misconduct, it follows that a lawyer is not an member of judicial branch, barred from serving in the legislative branch.


|Home| |Constitution| |FAQ| |Topics|
|Forums| |Documents| |Timeline| |Kids| |Vermont|
|Map| |Citation| |Survey| |Support|

URL: //www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_q158.html