Justice

A 64-year-old Foreign Service officer has sued Secretary Clinton for age discrimination. Last November, the woman was offered -- and accepted -- a two-year position at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria, which would have begun this past summer. Instead, the offer was rescinded when it was discovered that the woman would turn 65 during the middle of her term. The mandatory retirement age for Foreign Service officers is 65.

The woman has filed an age-discrimination lawsuit against Clinton, stating that the age limit is unconstitutional and based on old-fashioned stereotypes. What's particularly painful is that the woman didn't join the Foreign Service until age 54 because when she wanted to join earlier, there was a ban on married women!

Clinton, who's almost 62, will be turning 65 when she's still secretary of state, but the mandatory retirement age doesn't apply to political appointees. "Imagine if someone told Hillary Clinton she couldn't be secretary of state because she would turn 65 before her term is up," a lawyer representing the woman told the Washington Post.

If an adult is physically and mentally able to handle a position, age shouldn't matter. I would hope Clinton agrees. As more baby boomers enter their "senior years," my hunch is that these age barriers will come down.

Photo: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

A few tidbits of Hillary-in-Africa news, the first a lighthearted piece:

•Referring to a Kenyan man's offer of 40 goats and 20 cows for Chelsea as his bride, Clinton said she would convey the "very kind offer" to her "very independent" daughter.

•Clinton meets with Somalia's president in Nairobi, Kenya, today.

•Clinton hailed India as a model of democracy for Africa, saying that the country's 1 billion-plus people "have figured out how to run an election where the results can be surprising and unpredicted but accepted." For more about elections in the world's biggest democracy, check out the FP photo essay, "The World's Biggest Election."

•Clinton said it's a "great regret" that the United States is not part of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Her husband Bill had signed the ICC treaty, but Congress never ratified it and Bush didn't care for joining.

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Despite being a Senior Statesman(TM) and officially retired from government service, Bill Clinton always manages to attract attention even when he's not around. This week's round of confirmation hearings was a case in point.

Not only was his work with the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative the topic of the most scrutiny at Hillary's hearing on Tuesday -- and ostensibly cost Hillary David Vitter's vote and a unanimous nod from the committee -- the Bill connection also tied Attorney General nominee Eric Holder into knots in his confirmation hearing today. The Obama folks have to be so tired of hearing "Bill" and "Clinton" in the same sentence right now.

Stephen Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images