Port: Age limit ballot measure is all about challenging Supreme Court precedent

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Minot, N.D. — During my recent vacation (Denver was lovely, thank you very much), the organizer of the last election cycle’s term limits amendment filed paperwork for a new measure.

This one aims to set an age limit for members of Congress. If this measure becomes law, it would prohibit people over the age of 80 from running for Congress.

It may surprise you to learn that this is about term limits. Again.

The U.S. Term Limits group, which bankrolled last cycle’s ballot measure, is behind this one, too, I can report.

Why does a group organized around term limits care about age limits? It has to do with a U.S. Supreme Court case called U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton, a 5-4 decision from 1995 that struck down term limits for members of Congress that had been implemented in 23 states.

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