North Dakota voters pass measure to impose age limits on congressional candidates
North Dakota voters pass measure to impose age limits on congressional candidates
It is believed to be the first-in-the-nation measure imposing age limits on candidates seeking federal office, but it’s also expected to be challenged in court.
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Is this constitutional?
Also, can't people just not vote for someone they think is too old?
I don't see why not? I can't run for president at 31. Additionally, it is up to each state to define how its elections are held, and that's delineated in the constitution as well.
The minimum age requirements are in the Constitution, so it would be hard to challenge them. There's nothing about a maximum age.
On the other hand, the supreme Court very recently ruled that Colorado couldn't keep Trump off the ballot in that state.
At the very least, this seems wide open to be legally challenged.
There is no limitation on length of age in the constitution. In order to change that, a constitutional amendment is needed. A state cannot decide. It is plainly unconstitutional.
It absolutely is. States are granted the right to send representatives to Congress in pretty much any way they see fit.
Historically states can run their own elections, but just recently the supreme Court jumped in to say Colorado couldn't keep an insurrectionist from running for president.
A president is not a congressman.
That's true and it's been a long time since I read the Constitution too closely. States already have signature requirements for getting on the ballot anyway though. But the supreme Court saying these requirements for this office are ok but these other requirements for this other office aren't is going to get real ugly real fast
After looking more closely at precedent and the constitutional outlining, it looks like the list of qualifications for Congress et al are considered exhaustive and require a constitutional amendment to add any further restrictions. Take a look at the decision in U. S. Term Limits Inc V Thornton, which came to the conclusion that states cannot impose qualifications on federal congressional candidates and that a states people's have the right to deny them at election time if they so choose. So I concede. It's a good idea, but the system makes it difficult to implement. Unless another FDR style tragedy happens in office and then some big national tragedy happens, I really don't see a way to get this passed.
But for state government, the term limits could be passed. Idk how beneficial that really is, but 🤷♂️
Oh god, don't make me remember that.
No, they can't. The SCOTUS ruled in 1995 that states cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of the U.S. Congress stricter than those the Constitution specifies.
state-imposed restrictions ... violate a third idea central to this basic principle: that the right to choose representatives belongs not to the States, but to the people
What a fucking crazy quote in the face of the electoral college.
Well that's going to stick in the craw of certain state legislatures when they try to overrule the will of the voters in the upcoming election.
Well, people don't really have the choice to not vote for people they deem to old if they are the only person running for their party. If we had rules for maximum ages that would force parties to offer us younger candidates to vote for