The State of Arkansas, through its Attorney General, petitioner Winston Bryant, intervened as a party defendant in support of the amendment. On November 13, 1992, respondent Bobbie Hill, on behalf of herself, similarly situated Arkansas "citizens, residents, taxpayers and registered voters," and the League of Women Voters of Arkansas, filed a complaint in the Circuit Court for Pulaski County, Arkansas, seeking a declaratory judgment that § 3 of Amendment 73 is "unconstitutional and void." Her complaint named as defendants then-Governor Clinton, other state officers, the Republican Party of Arkansas, and the Democratic Party of Arkansas. Amendment 73 states that it is self-executing and shall apply to all persons seeking election after January 1, 1993. (b) Any person having been elected to two or more terms as a member of the United States Senate 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 Senate from Arkansas. 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: 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. I At the general election on November 3, 1992, the voters of Arkansas adopted Amendment 73 to their State Constitution. If the qualifications set forth in the text of the Constitution are to be changed, that text must be amended. 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. 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." 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. 2, which applies to the House of Representatives, provides: "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." Article 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. 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. CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS Stevens, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined.
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