[hummingbird]

"Um, you do realized that Allen West was defeated in November, right?"

Do you need to be a member of the House to be speaker?

Do you need to be a lawyer to be on the Supreme Court?

I know there are some rules like this...

[mak5]

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution only provides that the House choose a Speaker, it does not specify that the Speaker must be a member of the House (though all have been).