Also known as: lucrative offices · office of profit
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A public position that generates salary or fees for the holder. The compensation must be tied to the performance of the office's duties and exceed incidental expenses.
Luna Lang, a U.S. diplomat, is offered a paid advisory role by a foreign prince. She accepts the position without first obtaining congressional approval. The acceptance violates the constitutional bar on holding a lucrative office from a foreign source.
Logan Lane serves as a postmaster earning a government salary. The president removes Lane without Senate consent. The removal is upheld because the position is a lucrative office subject to the president's constitutional authority over executive subordinates.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Luke Latham is appointed notary public, a position that pays fees for services rendered. The state refuses to commission him because he declines to declare a belief in God. The requirement is struck down as an invalid religious test for holding a lucrative office.
Lola Langley, a corporate officer, directs company funds toward independent political advocacy. Challengers argue the spending protects lucrative offices from shareholder oversight. The Court holds that such expenditures are protected speech and do not implicate the officeholder restrictions at issue.
A lucrative office is one that produces salary or fee revenue tied directly to the performance of official duties and exceeding incidental expenses. Positions without such compensation do not qualify under the definition.
Yes. Article I Section 9 prohibits any person holding an office of profit or trust under the United States from accepting an office from a foreign state without congressional consent.
Courts have described inferior officers as occupying the great majority of lucrative offices and noted that Congress retains power to regulate their removal.
No. The Supreme Court has invalidated state requirements that condition appointment to a paid public office on a declaration of religious belief.
…L. Rev. 341, 393, n. 245 (2009) (hereinafter Teachout); see also U. S. Const., Art. I, §9, cl. 8 (“[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust . . . 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”). Professor…