[This post is co-authored with Professor Seth Barrett Tillman.
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post → co → Tillman
]
On November 3, 2026, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota-Democratic Party) was elected Governor of Minnesota.
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Klobuchar → elect → Minnesota
It is expected that, at some point, she will resign her U.S. senate seat, then take up the governor's position, and subsequently make a temporary appointment to fill her then-vacant senate seat.
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she → expect → seat
That dance of musical chairs happens from time-to-time.
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dance → happen → time
But some have also reported that Klobuchar must resign her senate seat.
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Klobuchar → report → seat
CBS News quoted political science professor David Schultz (Hamline University, Minnesota): "At some point she's going to have to step down as U.S. [S]enator."
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she → quote → S]enator
And sometimes, federal and state constitutional and statutory law bar dual-officeholding.
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law → bar → officeholding
In these circumstances, the law does not expressly bar dual-officeholding where, as here, the two positions are U.S. Senator and Minnesota Governor.
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positions → bar → officeholding
The U.S. Constitution's Incompatibility Clause (Article I, Section 6, Clause 2) bars U.S. Senators and Representatives from concurrently holding certain other federal positions.
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Clause → bar → positions
So, this provision has no application here.
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provision → have → application
The Minnesota State Constitution has a similar provision (Article IV, Section 5).
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Constitution → have → provision
That provision bars Minnesota's state (not U.S.) Senators and Representatives from holding other state and federal positions.
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provision → bar → positions
So, this provision has no application here.
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provision → have → application
The federal double-dipping statute, 5 United States Code Section 5533 bars drawing two salaries for two positions, where both positions are at the federal level.
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positions → dip → level
It has no application to state positions, e.g., governor.
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It → have → positions
Moreover, it does not bar actual dual-officeholding; rather, it bars receiving two streams of full-time compensation or salary.
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it → bar → compensation
Again, this provision has no application here.
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provision → have → application
The more narrow doctrine prohibits one person holding two positions where one position supervises the other position or determines its compensation.
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position → prohibit → compensation
Here, the two positions—U.S. Senator and Minnesota Governor—neither supervise one another, nor determine one another's compensation.
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positions → supervise → compensation
So, this doctrine has no application here.
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doctrine → have → application
This doctrine holds that, where as a practical matter, one person cannot carry out both sets of duties connected to two positions, the two positions are incompatible.
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positions → hold → positions
It might be argued that a governor, particularly in an emergency, must reside within her state, and that a U.S. Senator, should generally be on hand, at short notice, to carry out Senate business.
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Senator → argue → business
Given the physical distance between Minnesota and Washington, D.C., it is not entirely frivolous to suggest that this doctrine might act as a bar here.
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doctrine → give → bar
But the bar here is not distance, it is whether one can practically carry out both sets of duties.
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one → carry → duties
Governors frequently leave their states for short periods of time—even for vacations.
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Governors → leave → vacations
That's allowable as long as they are within reach by telephone or video link, and as long as they can return quickly in the event of an emergency.
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they → return → emergency
Likewise, the U.S. Senate can choose to accommodate a Senator with responsibilities distant from D.C.—the Senate could allow participation in debate by video link, and it could allow remote voting, as long as the votes are reasonably authenticated.
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votes → choose → voting
In other words, it is not a slam dunk that this expansive doctrine should apply on these facts, particularly given that this doctrine is merely a judicial creation lacking any foundation in both the U.S. Constitution and the Minnesota Constitution.
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doctrine → apply → Constitution
More generally, we should not allow ad hoc judicial creations to supersede democratic elections and add to the qualifications and incompatibilities expressly set out in positive law.
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creations → allow → law
Having one person hold two government positions—including state governor and U.S. Senator—is not a particularly good result.
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person → have → governor
But the fact that a result is bad does not mean, without more, that that result is barred by our law.
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result → mean → law
And pretending the U.S. Constitution and Minnesota Constitution bar what we think is bad today elevates our intuition into legal duties only by undermining what the legal system actually commands.
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system → pretend → what
And if today, our intuition is vindicated, we might do well to remember that tomorrow, it might be someone else's intuition being vindicated and in ways that we might come to regret.
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we → vindicate → that
Among those who have considered this issue, I expect that many (and, perhaps, most) believe, as Professor Shultz believes, that Klobuchar must resign her senate seat before she becomes Minnesota's governor.
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she → consider → seat
And that should tell you all you need to know about . . . the received wisdom.
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you → tell → all
The Aporia
