Ineligibility Clause

The Ineligibility Clause (sometimes also called the Emoluments Clause,^[1] or the Incompatibility Clause,^[2] or the Sinecure Clause^[3]) is a provision in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution^[4] that makes each incumbent member of Congress ineligible to hold an office established by the federal government during their tenure in Congress;^[5] it also bars officials in the federal government's executive and judicial branches from simultaneously serving in either the U.S. House or Senate. The purpose of the clause is twofold: first, to protect the separation of powers philosophy (upon which the federal frame of government is built); and second, to prevent Congress from conspiring to create offices or increase federal officials' salaries with the expectation that members of Congress would later be appointed to these posts.^[6][7]