§ 16.1-01-14 — Statement of intent

In enacting this measure, the people of North Dakota:
1. Recognize that, along with the rest of the people of the United States, we have
bestowed certain powers on the state and federal governments, and the governmental
power flows ultimately from the people, not to them.
2. Do so in the partial exercise of our duty to elect representatives in Congress, under
article I, section 2 of the Constitution of the United States, and our duty to elect United
States senators, under the seventeenth amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
3. Recognize that the United States Supreme Court has never held that the people of a
state do not have the constitutional power to establish term limits for federal legislators
from their state.
4. Recognize that certain restrictions are placed on our ability to choose federal
legislators, such that we could not, for example, elect a person twenty-eight years old
to the senate or require a religious test for a federal legislator.
5. Assert that, aside from the requirements explicitly imposed by the Constitution of the
United States, our power with respect to election of federal legislators is plenary.
6. Note that, under the Constitution of the United States, we have certain rights to control
suffrage in elections, regulating such matters as residency, ballot access, and voting
methods. As the possessors of the power to regulate suffrage, we also have the power
to regulate certain qualifications of the agents we appoint by exercising our suffrage.
7. Exercise the legislative power we reserved to ourselves in section 1 of article III of the
Constitution of North Dakota.
8. Recognize that, just as the federal Hatch Act [5 U.S.C. 7324 et seq.] restricts the
candidacies of otherwise eligible persons from holding elected office, we have the
same salutary purpose as does the Hatch Act, namely preventing an incumbent party
from using government power to entrench itself permanently into government office.
9. Are mindful of the United States Supreme Court's statement, in Garcia v. San Antonio
Metro Transit Authority, 469 U.S. 528, 551 (1985), that state control of the election
process is supposed to be a protection of the state peoples from the national
government.
10. Recognize that increased concentration of power in the hands of incumbents has
made this state's electoral system less free, less competitive, and most importantly,
less representative.
11. Recognize that our interests are best served by having our United States senators and
representatives in Congress be mindful of their origins and return to our ranks whence
they came.
12. Make the following declarations and historical findings:
a. James Madison, in No. 57 of The Federalist Papers, predicted that the house of
representatives would always be responsive to the will of the people because that
house would be bound by the same laws they impose on the people. President
Madison's prediction was wrong and Congress has arrogated to itself powers not
granted to the people, a recent notorious example being the bank of the house of

representatives in which members were allowed to kite checks. President
Madison's prediction was wrong in that Congress has oppressed the people with
laws from which it exempts itself, recent examples including minimum wage,
discrimination, occupational safety, and other laws.
b. The appearance of corruption and the lack of competitiveness for entrenched
incumbency seats has lessened voter participation and that is counterproductive
to the purposes of a representative republic.
c. Our vital interests in maintaining the integrity of the political process have been
harmed by these and other factors. Therefore, term limitation is the best method
by which we can ensure that our vital interests are guarded.
13. Believe this measure is constitutional and intend it to be so. Therefore, even if a court
holds any portion of this measure unconstitutional, thereby substituting its own
judgment for that we have expressed in enacting this measure, the legislative council
shall require the publisher of the North Dakota Century Code to include the text of this
measure, in the manner as if not so held but with appropriate annotation, to stand as a
testament to our expressed will, and as a memorial to the defiance of that will by
whatever court holds this measure unconstitutional. Furthermore, if any part of this
measure is held unconstitutional, we intend that the rest of it be deemed effective, to
the maximum extent permitted under section 1-02-20.