115 SUPREME COURT REPORTER S 779U.S. TERM LIMITS, INC., Et Al., Petitioners, V. Ray THORNTON Et Al. Winston BRYANT, Attorney
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1842 115 SUPREME COURT REPORTER 514 U.S. 779 514 U.S. 779, 131 L.Ed.2d 881 people of the United States. U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, cl. 3. S 779U.S. TERM LIMITS, INC., et al., Petitioners, 2. United States O7.1 v. With respect to Congress, framers of the Ray THORNTON et al. Constitution intended the Constitution to es- tablish fixed qualifications in the sense that Winston BRYANT, Attorney General they may not be supplemented by Congress. of Arkansas, Petitioner, U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, cl. 3. v. 3. States O4.16(2) Bobbie E. HILL et al. Powers retained by the states under the Nos. 93–1456, 93–1828. Tenth Amendment proceed, not from the Argued Nov. 29, 1994. people of America, but from the people of the Decided May 22, 1995. several states and they remain, after adop- tion of the Constitution, what they were be- fore, except so far as they may be abridged Action was brought challenging amend- by that instrument. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. ment to the Arkansas Constitution which 10. precluded persons who had served certain number of terms in the United States Con- 4. States O4 gress from having their names placed on the States retain a significant measure of ballot for election to Congress. The Circuit sovereign authority but they do so only to Court found that the provision violated the the extent that the Constitution has not di- United States Constitution. The Arkansas vested them of their original powers and Supreme Court affirmed, 316 Ark. 251, 872 transferred those powers to the federal gov- S.W.2d 349. On certiorari, the Supreme ernment. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 10. Court, Justice Stevens, held that: (1) states may not impose qualifications for offices of 5. States O4.4(3) the United States representative or United United States O7.1 States senator in addition to those set forth by the Constitution; (2) power to set addi- Power to add qualifications for the of- tional qualifications was not reserved to the fices of congressman and senator is not part states by the Tenth Amendment; and (3) of the original powers of sovereignty which state provision is unconstitutional when it has the Tenth Amendment reserved to the likely effect of handicapping a class of candi- states. U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, dates and has the sole purpose of creating cl. 3; Amend. 10. additional qualifications indirectly. 6. States O4.4(1) Affirmed. States can exercise no powers whatsoev- Justice Kennedy filed a concurring opin- er which exclusively spring out of the exis- ion. tence of the national government which the Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opin- Constitution does not delegate to them, and ion in which Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice no state can say that it has reserved what it O’Connor, and Justice Scalia joined. never possessed. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 10. 7. Taxation O9 1. United States O7.1 Constitution’s silence on the subject of Allowing individual states to adopt their state power to tax corporations chartered by own qualifications for congressional service Congress does not imply that the states have would be inconsistent with framers’ vision of reserved power to tax such federal instru- uniform national legislature representing the mentalities. U.S.C.A. Const.Amend. 10. 514 U.S. 779 U.S. TERM LIMITS, INC. v. THORNTON 1843 Cite as 115 S.Ct. 1842 (1995) 8. United States O7.1 15. States O18.71 In the national government, representa- United States O7.1, 11 tives owe primary allegiance, not to the peo- State constitutional provision which pre- ple of a state, but to the people of the nation. cluded person’s name from appearing on bal- lot for election to Congress if the person had 9. United States 7.1 O served three or more terms as a member of Even if states possessed as part of their the House of Representatives or two or more original powers some control over congres- terms as a member of the United States sional qualifications, the qualifications clauses Senate was not a mere regulation of the were intended to preclude states from exer- times, places, and manner of holding elec- cising any such power and to fix as exclusive tions but, rather, was an impermissible quali- the qualifications set forth in the Constitu- fication for office. U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 1, tion. U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, cl. §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, cl. 3, 4, cl. 1. 3. 16. United States O7.1 10. States O18.71 State provision is unconstitutional when United States O7.1 it has a likely effect of handicapping a class State-imposed restrictions on qualifica- of candidates for Congress and has the sole tions for Congress violate the idea that the purpose of creating additional qualifications right to choose representatives belongs, not indirectly. U.S.C.A. Const. Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. to the states, but to the people. U.S.C.A. 2, 3, cl. 3. Const. Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, cl. 3. Syllabus * 11. United States O7.1 Respondent Hill filed this suit in Arkan- Congress of the United States is not a sas state court challenging the constitutional- confederation of nations in which separate ity of § 3 of Amendment 73 to the Arkansas sovereigns are represented by appointed del- Constitution, which prohibits the name of an egates but is instead a body composed of otherwise-eligible candidate for Congress representatives of the people. from appearing on the general election ballot if that candidate has already served three 12. United States O1 terms in the House of Representatives or Ours is a government of the people, by two terms in the Senate. The trial court the people, for the people. held that § 3 violated Article I of the Federal Constitution, and the Arkansas Supreme 13. United States O7.1 Court affirmed. A plurality of the latter Constitutionality of state law setting court concluded that the States have no au- forth qualifications for Congress would not thority ‘‘to change, add to, or diminish’’ the depend on the method of its adoption, and age, citizenship, and residency requirements the people of the state, in enacting a mea- for congressional service enumerated in the sure, have no more power than does the state Qualifications Clauses, U.S. Const., Art. I, legislature to supplement the qualifications § 2, cl. 2, and Art. I, § 3, cl. 3, and rejected for service in Congress. U.S.C.A. Const. the argument that Amendment 73 is constitu- Art. 1, §§ 2, cl. 2, 3, cl. 3. tional because it is formulated as a ballot access restriction rather than an outright 14. Constitutional Law O38 disqualification of congressional incumbents. Constitution nullifies sophisticated as Held: Section 3 of Amendment 73 to the well as simple-minded modes of infringing on Arkansas Constitution violates the Federal constitutional protections. Constitution. Pp. 1847–1871. * The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of See United States v. Detroit Lumber Co., 200 U.S. the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter 321, 337, 26 S.Ct. 282, 287, 50 L.Ed. 499. of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. 1844 115 SUPREME COURT REPORTER 514 U.S. 779 (a) The power granted to each House of sentatives would result in a patchwork that Congress to judge the ‘‘Qualifications of its would be inconsistent with the Framers’ vi- own Members,’’ Art. I, § 5, cl. 1, does not sion of a uniform National Legislature repre- include the power to alter or add to the senting the people of the United States. The qualifications set forth in the Constitution’s fact that, immediately after the adoption of text. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, the Constitution, many States imposed term 540, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 1973, 23 L.Ed.2d 491. limits and other qualifications on state offi- After examining Powell ’s analysis of the cers, while only one State imposed such a Qualifications Clauses history and text, id., at qualification on Members of Congress, pro- 518–548, 89 S.Ct., at 1962–1978, and its artic- vides further persuasive evidence of a gener- ulation of the ‘‘basic principles of our demo- al understanding that the qualifications in the cratic system,’’ id., at 548, 89 S.Ct., at 1978, Constitution were unalterable by the States. this Court reaffirms that the constitutional Pp. 1852–1866. qualifications for congressional service are (c) A state congressional term limits ‘‘fixed,’’ at least in the sense that they may not be supplemented by Congress. Pp. measure is unconstitutional when it has the 1847–1852. likely effect of handicapping a class of candi- dates and has the sole purpose of creating (b) So too, the Constitution prohibits additional qualifications indirectly. The States from imposing congressional qualifica- Court rejects petitioners’ argument that tions additional to those specifically enumer- Amendment 73 is valid because it merely ated in its text. Petitioners’ argument that precludes certain congressional candidates States possess control over qualifications as from being certified and having their names part of the original powers reserved to them appear on the ballot, and allows them to run by the Tenth Amendment is rejected for two reasons. First, the power to add qualifica- as write-in candidates and serve if elected. tions is not within the States’ pre-Tenth Even if petitioners’ narrow understanding of Amendment ‘‘original powers,’’ but is a new qualifications is correct, Amendment 73 must right arising from the Constitution itself, and fall because it is an indirect attempt to evade the Qualifications Clauses’ requirements and thus is S 780not reserved.