Term
U.S. Term Limits, Inc
V.
Thornton (1995) |
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Definition
| the Amendment provided that any person who served two or more terms as a member of the United States Senate from Arkansas would be ineligible for re-election as a US Senator from Arkansas.The Constitution prohibits States from adopting Congressional qualifications in addition to those enumerated in the Constitution. A state congressional term limits amendment is unconstitutional if it has the likely effect of handicapping a class of candidates and "has the sole purpose of creating additional qualifications indirectly. |
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Term
Westberry
V.
Sanders (1964) |
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Definition
| James P. Wesberry, Jr. filed a suit against the Governor of Georgia, Carl E. Sanders, protesting the state's apportionment scheme. The Fifth Congressional District, of which Wesberry was a member, had a population two to three times larger than some of the other districts in the state. Wesberry claimed this system diluted his right to vote compared to other Georgia residents.Court held that Georgia's apportionment scheme grossly discriminated against voters in the Fifth Congressional District. |
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Term
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Definition
| Charles W. Baker and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law designed to apportion the seats for the state's General Assembly was virtually ignored. the Court held that there were no such questions to be answered in this case and that legislative apportionment was a justiciable issue. |
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Term
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Definition
| The U.S. Attorney General rejected a North Carolina congressional reapportionment plan because the plan created only one black-majority district. After a three-judge District Court ruled that they failed to state a constitutional claim, the residents appealed and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.The Court held that although North Carolina's reapportionment plan was racially neutral on its face, the resulting district shape was bizarre enough to suggest that it constituted an effort to separate voters into different districts based on race. |
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Term
Ethics in Government Act
(1978) |
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Definition
| a United States federal law passed in 1978 in the wake of the Watergate Scandal that sets financial disclosure requirements for public officials and restrictions on former government employees' lobbying activities. |
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