The Selection Of The President Pro Tempore of the US Senate- Part Two (By Harsha Sankar)

 

The Selection Of The President Pro Tempore of the US Senate- Part Two

The passage of the U.S. Constitution regarding this position: 

[Article I, Section 3, Clause 5

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.] 

It is entirely possible the framers of the U.S. Constitution wanted the Senate to choose non-members of the Senate to serve as its officers and as President pro tempore. After all, the President of the Senate is not a member of the U.S. Senate. He is in fact the Vice-President of the United States. 

They knew that the U.S. Senate could not choose its own members to serve in these capacities. They believed this to be a blatant conflict of interest as that measure would give certain senators more authority than other senators would have. This obviously would erode Representative governance. 

Cliff Notes Version: Since the 17th Amendment allowed Senators to be elected by the People, the federal upper house became much more federal, much more political, and much more powerful.

Therefore, it is imperative that non-members of the Senate should be chosen by the Senate to be officers. Conflicts of interests need to be lessened.