Political Quotes

“I would like to comment today about the Supreme Court decision limiting the powers of the States to prohibit those States from enacting term limits. Madam Speaker, the majority opinion in U.S. Term Limits versus Thornton, as Justice Thomas points out in dissent, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the 10th amendment's reservation of powers to State governments and the people. While the 5 to 4 decision may be a setback for term limits, it is only a temporary one. The closeness of the vote, and the strength of the dissent's argument, means that less harm was done to the term limit movement than is generally believed. The fundamental issue in Thorton is not term limits, but the power of States and citizens to add to the three qualifications that are spelled out in article I for Members of Congress: age, citizenry, and residence. While the majority makes a cogent and correct argument that the Constitution bars Congress from setting additional qualifications, it fails to demonstrate that the States are barred from adding qualifications. The thrust of the majority's argument is that allowing States to set additional qualifications could lead to abuses of the electoral process. The majority said the Founders would have opposed such abuses, and therefore must have meant to bar the states from adding qualifications. But the fact, as the dissent points out, is that the Constitution is silent on the matter.”