U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton

t Stevens1995. Nullified state law that imposed term limits on state’s representatives in Congress. Stevens held that states cannot supplement qualifications laid down in Article I.

t Significance. This case illustrates how tenuous the once-settled view of federal authority and the nature of our Union is on today’s SCt. The vote was so close! Justices who provided Thomas’ four votes remain on SC.

t Facts. Voters of Arkansas modified the Arkansas State Constitution to prohibit any person from appearing on the ballot for Congress from that state if he/she had previously served three terms in the House or two in the Senate. This provision was similar to term limit provisions that had been adopted – either by statute or state constitutional amendment – in 22 other states.

t Formalist holding. Stevensand Kennedyargued that this holding follows from fact that Congress is national institution and does not represent the states.

t Formalist C/A by Thomas. Congress is an assembly of representatives from distinct political entities, who retain reserved powers to prescribe qualifications for those representatives.

t This debate gave rise to dispute, rare in SC’s modern history, regarding nature of the federal union. Which side has better understanding of sovereignty?

t Realist perspective. Would any bad consequences result from term limits that USC sought to prevent?

t Key Questions

n To what extent do states retain sovereignty that they possessed before they joined Union?

n To what extent is a measure of retained autonomy a necessary check on federal power, in order to prevent the federal government from going beyond its enumerated powers?

n What conception of the role of individual states in making USC did Marshallrely on in McCulloch.

(a) Stevens. McCulloch rejected idea that because USC was silent on question, states had reserved power to tax the bank.

(b) Thomas. This makes most of McCulloch opinion surplusage, because MD would have lacked tax power even absent conflicting federal law.

(c) Kennedy: cited McCulloch for proposition that “the National Government is and must be controlled by the people without collateral interference from states.”

(d) ThomasC/A. But “the people of each state retained their separate political identities.” Voters of AK act as citizens of AK, not as citizens of U.S.

n Marshall’s account of meaning of ratification of 1787 USC, is given rather different readings by different justices.

(a) Stevens/Kennedy: emphasized that the language that describes creation of new nation.

(b) Thomasemphasized language that describes continuing importance of state boundaries.

(c) In Term Limits, is Stevensor Thomasmisreading McCulloch, or is Marshall’s opinion ambiguous enough to support either reading?

n Scope of each side’s opinion.

(a) If states are as constrained as Stevenssays, are they disabled from preventing prisoners or mental incompetents from running for Congress?

(b) If Thomasis right that members of Congress are agents of their states, can states control their representatives in other ways – for example, by instructing them how to vote?

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 739