''U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton'', 514 U.S. 779 (1995), is a

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision in which the Court ruled that states cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

stricter than those the Constitution specifies. The decision invalidated 23 states' Congressional

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

provisions. The parties to the case were

U.S. Term Limits U.S. Term Limits is a non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to enacting term limits for elected officials at every level of government in the United States. It was founded in 1992, and claims to have helped facilitate more ...

, a nonprofit advocacy group, and Arkansas politician

Ray Thornton Raymond Hoyt Thornton Jr. (July 16, 1928 – April 13, 2016)Arkansas CourtsA Self-Guided Tour of Justice Building Portraits(2016), p. 11. was an American attorney and politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 4th co ...

, among others..

Background

Constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

73 to the

Arkansas Constitution The Constitution of Arkansas is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of Arkansas delineating the duties, powers, structures, and functions of the state government. Arkansas' original constitution was adopted at a constitutional conv ...

denied

ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentralized b ...

to any federal Congressional candidate having already served three terms in the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

or two terms in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. (Such a candidate was not barred from being written in and winning by that method.) Soon after the amendment's adoption by

ballot measure A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

at the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

on November 3, 1992, Bobbie Hill, a member of the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...

, sued in state court to have it invalidated. She alleged that the amendment amounted to an unwarranted expansion of the qualifications for membership in Congress enumerated in the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

: and: Also critical to the issue is the 17th Amendment, which transferred power to select U.S. senators from the state legislature, to the people of the state: U.S. Term Limits claimed that Amendment 73 was "a permissible exercise of state power under the

Elections Clause Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. Under Article One, Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the ...

". Both the trial court and the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction o ...

agreed with Hill, declaring Amendment 73 unconstitutional.''U.S. Term Limits v. Hill'', 316 Ark. 251, 263, 872 S.W.2d 349, 355 (1994), ''aff'd sub nom. U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton'', 514 U.S. 779 (1995).

Supreme Court decision

The Supreme Court affirmed by a 5-4 vote. The majority and minority articulated different views of the character of the federal structure established in the Constitution. Writing for the majority, Justice

John Paul Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...

concluded: He further ruled that sustaining Amendment 73 would result in "a patchwork of state qualifications" for U.S. representatives, and called that consequence inconsistent with "the uniformity and national character that the framers sought to ensure." Concurring, Justice

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...

wrote that the amendment interfered with the "relationship between the people of the Nation and their National Government." Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...

, in dissent, countered: He also noted that the amendment did not actually prevent anyone from election since it only prevents prospective fourth-termers from being printed on the ballot, not from being written in, and therefore did not overstep the qualifications clause of the federal Constitution.

Reference

External links

* {{USArticleI United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States Constitution Article One case law United States Seventeenth Amendment case law Term limits United States elections case law 1995 in United States case law United States Tenth Amendment case law Federal elections in Arkansas Qualifications Clause case law

Background

Supreme Court decision

See also

Reference

External links