Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T19:46:06.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Congressional Term Limits, State Legislative Term Limits and Congressional Turnover: A Theory of Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Patrick J. Fett  and
Daniel E. Ponder
Patrick J. Fett
Affiliation:
Memphis State University
Daniel E. Ponder
Affiliation:
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During the first Congress of the United States, two measures to amend Article I of the Constitution were considered which, if ratified, would have limited the number of successive terms held by senators and representatives. Those measures were defeated and the issue was not considered again for over 150 years. However, since 1943 when the proposal was first resurrected in Congress, interest in the idea has grown to the point that from January 1981 through February 1992 no less than 69 proposals to limit the tenure of our national legislators were introduced into Congress (Richardson 1991, 80-90, 93-100; Richardson 1992, 1).

Today the idea of limiting the number of successive terms a member of Congress may hold is hotter than ever. Fanned by the support of the 1988 and 1992 Republican National Conventions, and fueled by the efforts of several special interest groups, the idea has achieved high levels of public support nationally. A nationwide poll of likely voters conducted two weeks before the 1992 elections showed that 79% favored congressional term limitations (Shafer 1992). In an impressive burst of voter resolve, 15 states have passed amendments to their constitutions that attempt to limit the number of successive terms that their own U.S. representatives and senators may serve in office.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 211 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

An early draft of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Tampa, 1991. The authors would like to thank Robert Birkby, Steve Burgess, Susan Hammond, and Joel Thompson for their helpful comments and suggestions regarding this paper.

References

Barnicle, Brendan. 1992. “Congressional Term Limits: Unconstitutional By Initiative.” Washington Law Review 67: 415–36.Google Scholar
Bianco, William T. 1984. “Strategic Decisions on Candidacy in U.S. Congressional Districts.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 9: 351–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, Jon R., Covington, Cary, and Fleisher, Richard. 1985. “Explaining Challenger Quality in Congressional Elections.” Journal of Politics 47: 510–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brickfield, Cyril F. 1957. Problems Relating to a Federal Constitutional Convention. Committee Print: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, 85th Congress, first session. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. 1992. “Congressional Departures.” 50: 3212.Google Scholar
Connelly, Dwight W. 1980. “Amending the Constitution: Is This Any Way to Call a Convention?” Arizona Law Review 22: 1011–36.Google Scholar
The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation. 1987. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Elving, Ronald D. 1990. “Congress Braces for Fallout From State Measures.” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 48: 3144–46.Google Scholar
Ervin, Sam J. Jr., 1968. “Proposed Legislation to Implement the Convention Method of Amending the Constitution.” Michigan Law Review 66: 875–902.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallup, George Jr., 1984. Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1983. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc. Google Scholar
Gorsuch, Neil, and Guzman, Michael. 1991. “Will the Gentlemen Please Yield? A Defense of the Constitutionality of Stateimposed Term Limitations.” Hofstra Law Review 20: 341–85.Google Scholar
Gunther, Gerald. 1979. “The Convention Method of Amending the United States Constitution.” Georgia Law Review 14: 1–25.Google Scholar
Hibbing, John R. 1991. “Contours of the Modern Congressional Career.” American Political Science Review 85: 405–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hook, Janet. 1990. “New Drive to Limit Tenure Revives an Old Proposal.” Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report 48: 567–69.Google Scholar
Huckabee, David D. 1979. Constitution Convention Applications: Addressing the Controversy of Counting State Applications Relating to Deficit Spending Amendments. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, February 28.Google Scholar
Jacobson, Gary C. 1992. The Politics of Congressional Elections, 3d ed. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc. Google Scholar
Leahy, Norman. 1992. Telephone conversation held November 11 with Mr. Leahy who is a staff member for U.S. Term Limits.Google Scholar
Levy, Joshua. 1992. “Can They Throw the Bums Out? The Constitutionality of State-Imposed Congressional Term Limits.” The Georgetown Law Journal 80: 1913–40.Google Scholar
Moncrief, Gary F., Thompson, Joel A., Haddon, Michael, and Hoyer, Robert. 1992. “For Whom the Bell Tolls: Term Limits and State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17: 37–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ornstein, Norman J., Mann, Thomas E., and Malbin, Michael J. 1992. Vital Statistics on Congress 1992. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc. Google Scholar
Powell v. McCormack. 1969. 395 U.S. 486.Google Scholar
Richardson, Sula. 1991. Congressional Terms of Office and Tenure: Historical Background and Contemporary Issues. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Richardson, Sula P. 1992. Term Limits for Federal and State Legislators: Recent Proposals in the States (1991-1992). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Robeck, Bruce W. 1982. “State Legislator Candidacies for the U.S. House: Prospects for Success.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 7: 507–14.Google Scholar
Shafer, Ronald G. 1992. “Washington Wire: A Special Weekly Report from the Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau.” The Wall Street Journal October 23: 1A, 8A.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. 1985. Constitutional Convention Implementation Act. Committee Report, 99th Congress, 1st session. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Whitaker, L. Paige. 1992. The Constitutionality of States Limiting Congressional Terms. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.Google Scholar
Will, George F. 1992. Restoration: Congress, Term Limits, and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International.Google Scholar