Term limits prevent elected officials from serving more than a specified number of terms, and therefore years, in office. Some term limits prohibit all service in an office after the limit is reached. Other term limits require only a break in service.
Term limits are typically specified in a constitution. For example, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says that the nation’s president cannot be elected to more than two four-year terms. The constitutions of many U.S. states set similar limits on the terms of the states’ governors.
People disagree on whether term limits are needed. Supporters of such limits maintain that an incumbent (person who holds office) has an unfair advantage in an election. They claim incumbents can use their power as elected officials to promote themselves politically and thus ensure their reelection. Supporters of term limits believe there are many people who could do a good job in office, and that special experience is not needed.
Opponents of term limits believe the limits are undemocratic because they restrict voter choice. They argue that elections themselves allow sufficient control over the length of time officials remain in office. In addition, they claim that term limits remove expert people from office and shift power away from elected officials and toward bureaucrats and other nonelected staff members.
In the early 1990’s, a widespread movement emerged in the United States to set term limits for members of the U.S. Congress and for state and local legislators. In 1995, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to set term limits for members of Congress. By the early 2000’s, courts in many states had overturned their states’ term-limits laws, and some state legislatures had repealed the laws.
