Can a sitting president receive a Nobel Peace Prize? By: J.P. Freire

10/11/09

There's a problem for President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize victory and it's not his inexperience. From Article I, Section 9 of "that neglected curio," the U.S. Constitution:

"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: 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."

Per Wikipedia, the Nobel Prize is awarded as follows:

"...the Norwegian Nobel Committee consists of five members elected by the Norwegian Storting (the Norwegian parliament).[9] In its first stage, several thousand people are asked to nominate candidates. These names are scrutinized and discussed by experts in their specific disciplines until only the winners remain. This slow and thorough process is arguably what gives the prize its importance. Despite this, there have been questionable awards and questionable omissions over the prize's century-long history."

While the Norwegian Parliament has no say in who receives the prize, the role it plays in selecting the committee ties it to the state. Congress will have to vote on whether to allow Obama to accept the prize.

UPDATE: Well, Roosevelt and Wilson accepted it while in office, but does anyone know if there were similar questions being asked at the time?

UPDATE 2: Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center sends me this, U.S. Code Title 5, Part III, Subpart F, Chapter 73, Subchapter IV, Section 7342:

Receipt and disposition of foreign gifts and decorations. (Of course.) It does specify that the President is included in this:

(b) An employee may not—(1) request or otherwise encourage the tender of a gift or decoration; or(2) accept a gift or decoration, other than in accordance with the provisions of subsections (c) and (d).(c)(1)

The Congress consents to—

(A) the accepting and retaining by an employee of a gift of minimal value tendered and received as a souvenir or mark of courtesy; and

(B) the accepting by an employee of a gift of more than minimal value when such gift is in the nature of an educational scholarship or medical treatment or when it appears that to refuse the gift would likely cause offense or embarrassment or otherwise adversely affect the foreign relations of the United States, except that—(i) a tangible gift of more than minimal value is deemed to have been accepted on behalf of the United States and, upon acceptance, shall become the property of the United States; and

(ii) an employee may accept gifts of travel or expenses for travel taking place entirely outside the United States (such as transportation, food, and lodging) of more than minimal value if such acceptance is appropriate, consistent with the interests of the United States, and permitted by the employing agency and any regulations which may be prescribed by the employing agency.

Depositing the money with the employer would mean, well, putting it in the Treasury I would assume. But what of the title of Nobel Prize winner?

(d) The Congress consents to the accepting, retaining, and wearing by an employee of a decoration tendered in recognition of active field service in time of combat operations or awarded for other outstanding or unusually meritorious performance, subject to the approval of the employing agency of such employee.

Without this approval, the decoration is deemed to have been accepted on behalf of the United States, shall become the property of the United States, and shall be deposited by the employee, within sixty days of acceptance, with the employing agency for official use, for forwarding to the Administrator of General Services for disposal in accordance with subsection (e)(1), or for disposal in accordance with subsection (e)(2).

So to play it safe (and to get some kudos for constitutional-mindedness) he should have Congress do a quick vote to allow him to accept the award. (Perilous question: If Congress passes a resolution allowing him to accept this award before they pass health-care reform, they could face criticism for bad priorities. It also becomes even more of a political football.)

And, lest we forget, the law definitely appears to discourage this sort of thing:

(i) The President shall direct all Chiefs of a United States Diplomatic Mission to inform their host governments that it is a general policy of the United States Government to prohibit United States Government employees from receiving gifts or decorations of more than minimal value.

Update: I dug up more in this post.

More from J.P. Freire

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Can a sitting president receive a Nobel Peace Prize?
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