Will Clinton Have to Take a Pay Cut?

My colleague Mike Memoli, who's filling in for Marc Ambinder over at his Atlantic blog, raises a fascinating question: Is Hillary Clinton actually prevented by the Constitution from taking an appointment as secretary of State?

At issue is the "emoluments clause" in Article One, Section Six of the Constitution. It states that no member of Congress can take a federal office for which the "emoluments" (read: salary) have increased during his or her term in office. And the pay for the secretary of State, like other Cabinet members, went up last year.

The situation has come up before, the Washington Post's Al Kamen noted last week. For example, in 1973, after President Nixon nominated Sen. William Saxbe, R-Ohio, to be attorney general, Congress backed his request to lower the attorney general's salary to the level it was at before it was raised in 1969, during Saxbe's term.

Does this mean that Clinton will have to settle for a lower pay rate than her Cabinet colleagues?