Jernigan
U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the national, non-partisan movement to limit terms for elected officials, today announced that South Carolina state house candidate, Joe Jernigan (District 111), has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the term limits convention pledge.
"Term limits are important for the future of our nation," said John Warren, state chair for U.S. Term Limits. "I am glad that Joe is willing to sign the candidate pledge and recognizes the positive impact term limits will have on our country."
The U.S. Term Limits pledge is provided to candidates and members of state legislatures. It reads, “I pledge that, as a member of the state legislature, I will cosponsor, vote for, and defend the resolution applying for an Article V convention for the sole purpose of enacting term limits on Congress.”
In the 1995 case, Thornton v. U.S. Term Limits, the Supreme Court of the United States opined that only a Constitutional Amendment could limit the terms of U.S. Senators and House Representatives. According to Nick Tomboulides, Chief Executive Officer of USTL, the best chance of imposing term limits on Congress is through an Article V Proposal Convention of state legislatures.
“The Constitution allows for amendments to be proposed by either 2/3 of Congress or 2/3 of the states," said Tomboulides. "While we’d like for Congress to take the high road and propose term limits on itself, we know they are too self-interested to do that without external pressure. That is why it is important to get buy-in from state legislators. Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by 38 states.”
Tomboulides noted, “More than 87% of Americans have rejected the career politician model and want to replace it with citizen leadership. The way to achieve that goal is through a congressional term limits amendment. Joe knows this and is willing to work to make sure we reach our goal.”
According to the latest nationwide poll on term limits conducted by Pew Research, term limits enjoy wide bipartisan support. Pew's analysis states, “An overwhelming majority of adults (87%) favor limiting the number of terms that members of Congress are allowed to serve. This includes a majority 56% who strongly favor this proposal, just 12% are opposed.”
