Wingers claim Obama can’t accept Nobel

When one of the two authors of a Washington Post opinion piece claiming President Barack Obama is Constitutionally barred from accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, J. Peter Pham, is a senior fellow at the neoconservative-heavy Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and the other, Ronald Rotunda, is a prof at winger-leaning Chapman Law, you know you’re in for some Grade A bullshit.

Their claim?

Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, the emolument clause, clearly stipulates: "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."

Somehow, the duo skirts over Teddy Roosevelt’s and Woodrow Wilsons’ in-office Nobels, without the consent of Congress.

Of course, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee is not a “King, Prince or foreign State.”

Answer? The committee is selected by the Norwegian parliament, therefore is a “body representing … a foreign state.” Boy, for language parsers elsewhere in their column, they can turn it back off when they want. NOT the same thing, actually.

That said, read Constitutionally barred from accepting the Nobel Peace Prize for laughs