U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (1995)

In some U.S. states, governors, state legislators, and other elected officials can only serve a limited number of terms. These same states, however, have been unable to limit the terms of their representatives to the U.S. House and Senate, which seems somewhat odd especially given that large numbers of Americans favor term limits. Why is that? As you might have suspected, the U.S. Supreme Court has provided guidance on this issue. Even though the Court does not post its opinions on the web, you can find full-text opinions at FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com/), one of the most comprehensive sites on the internet designed to serve policymakers, lawyers and legal analysts, and law students. Go to the FindLaw web site, and locate the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995). Read the summary of the Court's opinion in this case. (The summary is the first part of the opinion; in other words, read until you get to the line "JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.") Based on what you find, why is it that states can impose term limits on state officials but not the individuals who represent them in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate?




Statistical Abstract of the US, State Rankings

The U.S. Census Bureau maintains one of the largest collections of data about social and economic conditions in the United States as a whole, and all of the nation's 50 states. Each year the Bureau publishes a summary of this information in the Statistical Abstract of the United States. You can link to an electronic version of this publication at the Bureau's web site, http://www.census.gov/. Go the U.S. Census Bureau's web site and locate the Statistical Abstract. From there, identify the collection of what the Bureau calls "State Rankings," and study in particular the following three measures: (1) Infant mortality rate, (2) Violent crime rate, and (3) Persons below the poverty level. How might a conservative use this information to argue for a system of "dual federalism"? How might a liberal use this information to argue for a system of "cooperative federalism"?