14 Oct 2009 On Nobel Funds, Talking Points Memo Misses the More Interesting Story

Christina Bellantoni of Talking Points Memo reported Tuesday afternoon that as of then, according to Robert Gibbs, President Obama was still planning to donate the cash prize accompanying the Nobel Peace Prize to charity.

Because Obama is President of the United States, it is unconstitutional for him to accept the money (which includes taking control of it long enough to direct that it be re-routed to a charity) unless Congress specifically gives him permission to do so.

As explained here, this is governed by Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution.

Perhaps Talking Points Memo either doesn’t realize the Nobel Committee is appointed by a foreign government, or it doesn’t have a problem with foreign governments bestowing cash gifts on U.S. presidents (surely not), but either way, it missed a better story when it failed to ask Gibbs why the White House seems to be ignoring the Constitution on this.

Written by Amy Ridenour. E-mail comments to [email protected]. | Subscribe to this blog’s feed. | Followthe National Center for Public Policy Research on Twitter. | Download our book Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care.

Labels: Constitutional Law, Media, White House