It provides: "(a) Any person having been elected to three or more terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas shall not be certified as a candidate and shall not be eligible to have his/her name placed on the ballot for election to the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas. Section 3, the provision at issue in these cases, applies to the Arkansas Congressional Delegation. Section 2 applies to the legislative branch of the state government it provides that no member of the Arkansas House of Representatives may serve more than three 2-year terms and no member of the Arkansas Senate may serve more than two 4-year terms. Section 1 provides that no elected official in the executive branch of the state government may serve more than two 4-year terms. The limitations in Amendment 73 apply to three categories of elected officials. Therefore, the people of Arkansas, exercising their reserved powers, herein limit the terms of elected officials." Entrenched incumbency has reduced voter participation and has led to an electoral system that is less free, less competitive, and less representative than the system established by the Founding Fathers. Proposed as a "Term Limitation Amendment," its preamble stated: *784 "The people of Arkansas find and declare that elected officials who remain in office too long become preoccupied with reelection and ignore their duties as representatives of the people. If the qualifications set forth in the text of the Constitution are to be changed, that text must be amended.Īt the general election on November 3, 1992, the voters of Arkansas adopted Amendment 73 to their State Constitution. Allowing individual States to adopt their own qualifications for congressional service would be inconsistent with the Framers' vision of a uniform National Legislature representing the people of the United States. 486, 547 (1969) (internal quotation marks omitted). Such a state-imposed restriction is contrary to the "fundamental principle of our representative democracy," embodied in the Constitution, that "the people should choose whom they please to govern them." Powell v. The Arkansas Supreme Court held that the amendment violates the Federal Constitution.
Today's cases present a challenge to an amendment to the Arkansas State Constitution that prohibits the name of an otherwise-eligible candidate for Congress from appearing on the general election ballot if that candidate has already served three terms in the House of Representatives or two terms in the Senate. 3, which applies to the Senate, similarly provides: "No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen." 2, which applies to the House of Representatives, provides: *783 "No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen."Īrticle I, § 3, cl. The Constitution sets forth qualifications for membership in the Congress of the United States. Justice Stevens, delivered the opinion of the Court. With him on *782 the brief were Assistant Attorneys General Dellinger and Hunger, Deputy Solicitor General Bender, Paul R. Solicitor General Days argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging affirmance. Green filed a brief for respondent Thornton in No. With him on the brief for respondents in No. Cohen argued the cause for respondents in both cases. Warren filed briefs for the Republican Party of Arkansas et al., as respondents under this Court's Rule 12.4. Hungar filed briefs for Representative Jay Dickey et al., and Edward W. Kester argued the cause for petitioners in No. Raupp, Assistant Attorneys General, Griffin B. Bell, Deputy Attorney General, Ann Purvis and David R.
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Winston Bryant, Attorney General of Arkansas, pro se, argued the cause for petitioner in No.
J., and O'Connor and Scalia, JJ., joined, post, p. Thomas, J.,filed a dissenting opinion, in which Rehnquist, C. Kennedy, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. *781 *781 Stevens, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined. ĬERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
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