Opinion ID: 1991746
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: measure # 408 unconstitutional as to congressional offices

Text: The Supreme Court of the United States has held that state-imposed term limits upon congressional offices violate the Constitution of the United States. U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 1842, 131 L.Ed.2d 881 (1995). The eligibility requirements for Congress are straightforward. A candidate for the House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years, and be a resident of the state from which he is seeking election. U.S. Const. art. I, § 2, cl. 2. A candidate for the U.S. Senate must be at least 30 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years, and be a resident of the state from which he is seeking election. U.S. Const. art. I, § 3, cl. 3. In U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton , the Court held that the Constitution forbids the states from adding to or altering these specifically enumerated qualifications. The qualifications for members of Congress set forth in the U.S. Constitution are the sole qualifications. The Supreme Court held that before individual states can be allowed to adopt their own qualifications for congressional service, the U.S. Constitution must be amended. The Court stated that it was firmly convinced that allowing the several States to adopt term limits for congressional service would effect a fundamental change in the constitutional framework. Any such change must come not by legislation adopted either by Congress or by an individual State, but ratheras have other important changes in the electoral processthrough the Amendment procedures set forth in Article V. ___ U.S. at ___, 115 S.Ct. at 1871. Secondly, the Supreme Court rejected term limits supporters' arguments that even if the states may not add qualifications, term limits are a permissible exercise of state power under the Elections Clause, article I, § 4, clause 1, of the U.S. Constitution. The Elections Clause provides: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. The Court held that the Elections Clause grants the states authority to enact procedural requirements and safeguards but not authority to impose substantive qualifications that exclude candidates from the ballot. Term limits are substantive qualifications, and the states lack authority to impose them under the Elections Clause. Therefore, to the degree that the amendments to the Nebraska Constitution impose term limits on holders of congressional offices, they must necessarily be held unconstitutional.