II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 683

To protect and enforce the equal privileges and immunities of citizens of

the United States and the constitutional rights of the people to choose

Senators and Representatives in Congress.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 5, 1995

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. BROWN, Mr. INHOFE, and Mr.

SANTORUM) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

A BILL

To protect and enforce the equal privileges and immunities

of citizens of the United States and the constitutional

rights of the people to choose Senators and Representatives in Congress.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electoral Rights En5 forcement Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that:
2

•S 683 IS

1 (1) The right of the people of the States to

2 choose their Senators and Representatives in Con3 gress is a fundamental right and a privilege and im4 munity of citizenship reserved to the States or the

5 people by the 10th amendment, and enforceable

6 under sections 4 and 8 of article I, section 4 of arti7 cle IV, and the 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 24th, and

8 26th amendments of the Constitution.

9 (2) A State and its people may reasonably con10 clude that requiring regular rotation in office of

11 their Senators and Representatives in Congress best

12 serves their needs and the interests of good govern13 ment.

14 (3) An overwhelming majority of the people in

15 every State favor term limits on their Senators and

16 Representatives in Congress.

17 (4) Long-time incumbents often have benefits

18 from their offices that have given them unequal ad19 vantages in obtaining reelection.

20 (5) Entrenched incumbency has had the effect

21 of denying equal rights to seek office.

22 (6) Entrenched incumbency has had the effect

23 of reducing the participation of racial minorities,

24 women, and young voters in elections for the Senate

25 and House of Representatives.
3

•S 683 IS

1 (7) Long-time incumbents often encourage un2 constitutional gerrymandering of congressional dis3 tricts to assist them in continuing in office.

4 (8) Long-time incumbents often become more

5 responsive to special interests than to the voters,

6 thus infringing on the voter’s right to nondiscrim7 inatory treatment in the provision of government

8 services.

9 (9) Long-term incumbents often have advan10 tages in obtaining financial support for campaigns,

11 which result in greatly unequal opportunities among

12 candidates seeking election.

13 (10) For all of the reasons set forth in para14 graphs (1) through (9), the people in States in

15 which a majority choose to limit the terms of their

16 Members of Congress are denied a fully republican

17 form of government if they are not allowed to do so.

18 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the Act are—

19 (1) to enforce the guarantees of equal protec20 tion of the laws and protect the privileges and im21 munities of citizens of the United States, as guaran22 teed by the 14th amendment, by authorizing the

23 people and the States to limit the terms of their

24 Senators and Representatives in Congress;
4

•S 683 IS

1 (2) to enforce the guarantees of the 10th

2 amendment to the same end;

3 (3) to enforce the guarantees of the 15th, 19th,

4 24th, and 26th amendments to the same end;

5 (4) to enforce the right of the people to choose

6 their Representatives in Congress guaranteed by ar7 ticle 1 of the Constitution;

8 (5) to enforce the right of the people to choose

9 their Senators guaranteed by the 17th amendment

10 to the Constitution;

11 (6) to regulate the manner of elections to Con12 gress; and

13 (7) to carry out the obligation of Congress to

14 guarantee to every State a republican form of gov15 ernment as set forth in section 4 of Article IV.

16 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AND ENFORCEMENT; SENATE.

17 Each State or the people thereof may prescribe the

18 maximum number of terms to which a person may be

19 elected or appointed to the Senate of the United States.

20 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION AND ENFORCEMENT; HOUSE OF

21 REPRESENTATIVES.

22 Each State or the people thereof may prescribe the

23 maximum number of terms to which a person may be
5

•S 683 IS

1 elected to the House of Representatives of the United

2 States.

Æ