U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton | |
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Argued November 29, 1994 Decided May 22, 1995 | |
Full case name | U.S. Term Limits, Incorporated, et al., Petitioners v. Ray Thornton, et al.; Winston Bryant, Attorney General of Arkansas, Petitioner v. Bobbie E. Hill, et al. |
Citations | 514 U.S. 779 (more) 115 S. Ct. 1842; 131 L. Ed. 2d 881; 1995 U.S. LEXIS 3487; 63 U.S.L.W. 4413; 95 Cal. Daily Op. Service 3790; 95 Daily Journal DAR 6496; 9 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 29 |
Case history | |
Prior | U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Hill, 316 Ark. 251, 872 S.W.2d 349 (1994); cert. granted, 512 U.S. 1218 (1994). |
Holding | |
States cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of Congress stricter than those in the Constitution. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Stevens, joined by Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer |
Concurrence | Kennedy |
Dissent | Thomas, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1, as modified by U.S. Const. amend. XVII U.S. Const. amend. X |
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that states cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of the U.S. Congress stricter than those the Constitution specifies. The decision invalidated 23 states' Congressional term limit provisions. The parties to the case were U.S. Term Limits, a nonprofit advocacy group, and Arkansas politician Ray Thornton, among others.[1]