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Term limits in the United States
There are a number of term limits to offices in the United States, which restrict the number of terms an individual can hold a certain office.
Federal term limits
The Twenty-Second Amendment to the United States Constitution says that no person can be elected President of the United States more than twice. Term limits are a particularly important issue in the United States.
President George Washington originally started the tradition of informal Presidential term limits by refusing to run for a third term. The short-lived Confederate States of America adopted a six-year term for their President and Vice-President, and barred the President from seeking re-election. This innovation was endorsed by many American politicians after the war, most notably by Rutherford B. Hayes in his inaugural address. Hayes' proposal did not come to fruition, but the government of Mexico adopted the Confederate term and limit for its federal President. Franklin Roosevelt was the first and only President to successfully break Washington's tradition, and he died in office while serving his fourth term.
Congressional term limits were featured prominently in the Republican Party's Contract with America in the United States House 1994 election campaign and may well have contributed to the Republicans gaining control of the United States House of Representatives from the Democratic Party for the first time since the United States 1952 elections. The Republican leadership brought to the floor of the House a constitutional amendment that would limit House members to six two-year terms and members of the Senate to two six-year terms. However, this amendment did not gain the approval of U.S. Term Limits, the largest private organization pushing for Congressional term limits. (U.S. Term Limits wanted House members to be limited to three two-year terms.) With the Republicans holding 230 seats in the House, the amendment did receive a simple majority in the House. However, a two-thirds majority (290 votes) is required to pass a constitutional amendment, and thus the bill failed. The concept subsequently lost momentum by the mid 1990s.
In May 1995, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, that states cannot impose term limits upon their U.S. Representatives or U.S. Senators.
Currently, term limits at the federal level are restricted to the executive branch and some agencies. The U.S. Congress, however, remains without electoral limits.
State term limits
Term limits for state governors or others within the state executive branch and other high constitutional offices have existed since the beginning of the United States. One of the first such limits of its kind, the Delaware Constitution of 1776, limited the Governor of Delaware to a single three-year term; currently, the governor of Delaware can serve two 4-year terms. As of present, there are 36 states have adopted term limits of various types for their governors. One variation allowed a governor to be re-elected, but only to non-consecutive terms. (To circumvent this provision, George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, announced in 1966 that voters should elect his wife, Lurleen Wallace, their next governor. It was clear during the campaign that Mrs. Wallace would be a governor in name only, and thus she was elected the first female governor of Alabama.)
Beginning in the 1990s, term limit laws were imposed on twenty state legislatures through either successful ballot measures, referenda, legislative acts, or state constitutional changes. The Maine legislature was the first state to enact legislative term limits in 1993.
Since 1997, however, six state legislatures have either overturned their own limits or state supreme courts have ruled such limits unconstitutional. In 2002 the Idaho Legislature became the first legislature of its kind to repeal its own term limits, enacted by a public vote in 1994, ostensibly because it applied to local officials along with the legislature.
State legislatures with term limits
| States with legislative limits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Legislature | Limits in effect | Year limits imposed | Year limits took effect |
| Arizona Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 4 terms (8 years) |
1992 | H: 2000 S: 2000 |
| Arkansas Legislature | 12 consecutive years; can return after a four-year break | 1992, 2014, modified 2020 | H: 1998 S: 2000 |
| California Legislature | 12 year cumulative total, in either or both | 1990, modified 2012 | A: 1996 S: 1998 |
| Colorado Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 2 terms (8 years) |
1990 | H: 1998 S: 1998 |
| Florida Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 2 terms (8 years) |
1992 | H: 2000 S: 2000 |
| Louisiana Legislature | H: 3 terms (12 years) S: 3 terms (12 years) |
1995 | H: 2007 S: 2007 |
| Maine Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 4 terms (8 years) |
1993 | H: 1996 S: 1996 |
| Michigan Legislature | 12 year cumulative total, in either or both | 1992, modified 2022 | H: 1998 S: 2002 |
| Missouri Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 2 terms (8 years) |
Amendment 13 (1992) (also see: Amendment 3 (2002) |
H: 2002 S: 2002 |
| Montana Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 2 terms (8 years) |
1992 | H: 2000 S: 2000 |
| Nebraska Unicameral | S: 2 terms (8 years) | 2000 | S: 2008 |
| Nevada Legislature | A: 6 terms (12 years) S: 3 terms (12 years) |
Initiative passed in 1996, took effect with those elected in 1998 | A: 2010 S: 2010 |
| North Dakota Legislature | H: 2 terms (8 years) S: 2 terms (8 years) |
2022 | H: 2023 S: 2023 |
| Ohio Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 2 terms (8 years) |
1992 | H: 2000 S: 2000 |
| Oklahoma Legislature | 12 year cumulative total, in either or both | 1990 | H: 2004 S: 2004 |
| South Dakota Legislature | H: 4 terms (8 years) S: 4 terms (8 years) |
1992 | H: 2000 S: 2000 |
Overturned state legislative term limits
The following six legislatures have had their term limits nullified:
- Idaho Legislature: the Legislature repealed its own term limits in 2002.
- Massachusetts General Court: the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned term limits in 1997.
- Oregon Legislative Assembly: the Oregon Supreme Court ruled term limits unconstitutional in 2002.
- Utah State Legislature: the Legislature repealed its own term limits in 2003.
- Washington State Legislature: the Washington Supreme Court voided term limits in 1998.
- Wyoming Legislature: the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled term limits unconstitutional in 2004.
Municipal term limits
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the mayor cannot be elected 3 consecutive times, but there is no limit on how long any individual can serve as mayor. Frank Rizzo was elected mayor there in 1971 and 1975, then tried and failed to get the 3-consecutive ban overturned, so could not run for that office in 1979.
