Immediate Release
November 18, 2021
Contact: Scott Tillman, U.S. Term Limits
Phone: (321) 345-7455
stillman@termlimits.com
U.S. Term Limits Applauds 6th DCA Ruling on Michigan Term Limits
Lansing, MI – U.S. Term Limits, the nation’s oldest and largest pro-term limits group, today applauded a ruling from the 6th District Court of Appeals affirming the constitutionality of Michigan’s legislative term limits law.
“This ruling is a victory for the people of Michigan and term limits supporters everywhere,” said Scott Tillman, a resident of Grand Rapids who serves as National Field Director for U.S. Term Limits. “It stands for the principle that our legal system will provide no lifeline for sleazy career politicians who are looking to evade term limits. This ruling affirms that enacting term limits is a proper exercise of each citizen’s constitutional rights.”
“In addition, we would like to thank Michigan Attorneys General Frank Kelly, who defended the State’s Constitution in 1998, and Dana Nessel, for their commendable effort in defending the Michigan Constitution,” said economist Patrick Anderson, who worked on the 1992 statewide ballot drive for term limits.
In the opinion, Judge Amal Thapar cited Benjamin Franklin, who argued in favor of term limits at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
“He (Franklin) argued that ‘in free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns. For the former to return among the latter was not to degrade, but to promote them,’” Thapar wrote. “The people of Michigan had the same idea…it’s not our place to second-guess how Michiganders choose to design their state legislature.”
Thapar added that Michigan voters adopted term limits with a rational basis in mind: “to reduce political careerism and check special interests.”
Michigan’s legislative term limits were placed on the ballot in 1992 via a citizen petition led by Greg Schmid, Patrick Anderson, Kurt O’Keefe and many others from around the state. The measure received nearly 2.3 million YES votes the ballot box, passing by a landslide 17.5-point margin.
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U.S. Term Limits is the largest grassroots term limits advocacy group in the country. We connect term limits supporters with their legislators and work to pass term limits on all elected officials, particularly on the U.S. Congress. Find out more at termlimits.org.