CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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ARTICLE I.

Section 6. [Compensation, Privileges, Disabilities]

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Cross references.

- Comparable prohibition against holding multiple offices or accepting office created during elected officer's term, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. III, Sec. II, Para. IV.

Comparable privilege from arrest for General Assembly members, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. III, Sec. IV, Para. IX.

Law reviews.

- For article, "The Supreme Court and Civil Liberties: 1974-1975," see 24 Emory L.J. 937 (1975). For article, "Congress and the Fourth Amendment," 21 Ga. L. Rev. 107 (1986). For essay, "Standing and Rights," see 36 Emory L.J. 1195 (1987). For article, "The Illegitimacy of the Public Interest Standard at the FCC," see 38 Emory L.J. 714 (1989). For article, "Spallone v. United States: When Constitutional Principles Collide," see 7 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 527 (1991). For note discussing parameters of speech and debate clause as a defense in private civil suits and proposing balancing test to limit the privilege, see 10 Ga. L. Rev. 953 (1976). For comment on Methodist Fed'n for Social Action v. Eastland, 141 F. Supp. 729 (D.C. Cir. 1956) (three judges sitting), holding that the federal district court could not prevent the publication of a congressional handbook even though it falsely and defamatorily stated that plaintiff organization was a communist front, see 19 Ga. B.J. 366 (1957). For comment on Eastland v. United States Servicemen's Fund, 421 U.S. 491, 955 S. Ct. 1813, 44 L. Ed. 324 (1975), refusing to allow a first amendment exception to the privilege of legislative immunity, see 27 Mercer L. Rev. 1195 (1976).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Comparable Georgia Constitution provision.

- Georgia Const. 1976, Art. III, Sec. V, Para. XII (see Ga. Const. 1983, Art. III, Sec. IV, Para. IX) is similar to U.S. Const., art. I, sec. VI, cl. 1. Village of N. Atlanta v. Cook, 219 Ga. 316, 133 S.E.2d 585 (1963).

Violation of speech or debate clause.

- The speech or debate clause prohibited inquiry into a member of Congress's committee assignments even if the member's specific legislative acts were not mentioned since the privilege protects legislative status as well as legislative acts and the government's inquiry into defendant's committee memberships actually amounted to an inquiry into legislative acts where the government was allowed to argue a permissive inference that the defendant knew the details of the money-laundering statutes because of the defendant's status as a member of the Banking and Judiciary Committees. United States v. Swindall, 971 F.2d 1531 (11th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1040, 114 S. Ct. 683, 126 L. Ed. 2d 650 (1994).

Because the indictment charged that the defendant, a former member of the United States House of Representatives, had discussed money laundering transactions with an undercover agent and an intermediary, and then falsely testified to a grand jury to conceal the extent of the defendant's involvement in these discussions, questioning the defendant before the grand jury about the committee memberships violated the speech or debate clause of the United States Constitution; it was error to allow reference to be made to the defendant's committee memberships both in the grand jury proceeding and at trial; and the remedy for the violations of the privilege was dismissal of the affected counts. United States v. Swindall, 971 F.2d 1531 (11th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1040, 114 S. Ct. 683, 126 L. Ed. 2d 650 (1994).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Constitutional provision against increase in compensation of public officer during term of office as applicable to statute providing for first time for compensation for office, 144 A.L.R. 685.

Incompatibility of offices or positions in the military and in the civil services, 147 A.L.R. 1419; 148 A.L.R. 1399; 150 A.L.R. 1444.