Term limits at the federal level are restricted to the executive branch and some agencies. Judicial appointments at the federal level are made for life and are not subject to election or to term limits. The U.S. Congress remains (since the
Thornton decision of 1995) without electoral limits.
President George Washington's decision in 1796 not to run for a third term has often been given credit as the start of a tradition that no president should ever run for a third term. Washington wanted to retire when his first term ended in 1792, but all his advisors begged him to stand for re-election. By 1796, however, he insisted on retiring, as he felt exhausted and disgusted by virulent personal attacks on his integrity. His
Farewell Address very briefly mentioned why he would not run for a third term and goes on to give a great deal of political advice, but it does not mention term limits. After his death, his refusal to run was explained in terms of a "no-third-tradition." argues, "The argument for term limits has a solid and respectable pedigree. Contrary to popular belief, however, that pedigree does not begin with George Washington." The second president,
John Adams, lost re-election
in 1800 to
Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson himself declined re-election to a third term, attributing the precedent to Washington. In the 1780s, about half the states provided term limits for governors. The
Constitutional Convention of 1787 discussed the issue and decided not to institute presidential term limits. "The matter was fairly discussed in the Convention," Washington wrote in 1788, "and to my full convictions [...] I can see no propriety in precluding ourselves from the services of any man, who on some great emergency shall be deemed universally, most capable of serving the Public," even after serving two terms. The Constitution, Washington explained, retained sufficient checks against
political corruption and stagnant leadership without a presidential term limits provision. Jefferson, however, strongly endorsed a policy of term limits. He rejected calls from supporters that he run for a third term in 1808, telling several state legislatures in 1807–1808 that he needed to support "the sound precedent set by [his] illustrious predecessor."
Theodore Roosevelt had already served over seven years and in 1912, after a four-year hiatus, ran for a third term. He was criticized for doing so, and attempted assassin
John Schrank stated that his motivation for
shooting Roosevelt was preventing a third term. The 1912 election was ultimately won by
Woodrow Wilson.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (president, 1933–1945) was the only president to be elected more than twice, having won a third term in 1940 and a fourth term in 1944 (though he died in office three months into his fourth term). This gave rise to a successful move to formalize the traditional two-term limit by amending the
U.S. Constitution. As ratified in 1951, the
Twenty-Second Amendment provides that "no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice." The new amendment explicitly did not apply to the incumbent president,
Harry S. Truman. However, Truman declined to seek re-election to a third term in 1952.
Congress , first elected in 1976, expressing reservations regarding term limits (dated February 10, 2011) Reformers during the early 1990s used the
initiative and referendum to put congressional term limits on the ballot in 24 states. Voters in eight of these states approved the congressional term limits by an average electoral margin of two to one. It was an open question whether states had the constitutional authority to enact these limits. In May 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, , that states cannot impose term limits upon their
federal representatives or
senators. In the
1994 U.S. elections, part of the "
Contract With America" Republican platform included legislation for term limits in Congress. After winning the majority, a Republican congressman brought a constitutional amendment to the House floor that proposed limiting members of the Senate to two six-year terms and members of the House to six two-year terms. However, this rate of rotation was so slow (the life-tenured Supreme Court averages about 16 years) that the congressional version of term limits garnered little support among the populist backers of term limits, including
U.S. Term Limits, the largest private organization pushing for congressional term limits. The bill got only a bare majority (227–204), falling short of the two-thirds majority (290) needed for constitutional amendments. Three other term limit amendment bills failed to get more than 200 votes. Defeated in Congress and overridden by the Supreme Court, the federal term limit movement was brought to a halt. The term limits intended simultaneously to reform state legislatures (as distinguished from the federal congressional delegations) remain in force, however, in fifteen states. In 2007,
Larry J. Sabato revived the debate over term limits by arguing in
A More Perfect Constitution that the success and popularity of term limits at the state level suggests that they should be adopted at the federal level as well. He specifically put forth the idea of congressional term limits and suggested a national
constitutional convention be used to accomplish the amendment, since the Congress would be unlikely to propose and adopt any amendment that limits its own power. Some state legislators have also expressed their opinions on term limits. It is confirmed that in the following five states—and there may be others—state lawmakers approved resolutions asking Congress to propose a federal constitutional amendment to limit the number of terms which members of Congress may serve: •
South Dakota Legislature in 1989 (designated as POM-42 in the U.S. Senate) approved South Dakota House Joint Resolution No. 1001 (see
Congressional Record of April 4, 1989, at pages 5395 and 5396, with verbatim text provided). •
Hawaii Senate in 1990 (designated as Memorial 400 in the U.S. House of Representatives) approved Hawaii Senate Resolution No. 41—unicameral only (see
Congressional Record of September 28, 1998, at page 22655). It took eight years for this resolution to find its way into the
Congressional Record and to be correctly referred to the Committee on the Judiciary—and even then, its text was not provided in the
Congressional Record. Back in 1990, Hawaii's S.R. No. 41 was indeed received by the U.S. House of Representatives, and was designated as Memorial 416, (
Congressional Record of June 6, 1990, at pages 13,262 and 13,263) but the resolution was erroneously referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. •
Utah Legislature in 1990 (designated as POM-644 in the U.S. Senate) approved Utah Senate Joint Resolution No. 24 (see
Congressional Record of September 27, 1994, at page 26033, with verbatim text provided). It took four years for this resolution to find its way into the U.S. Senate's portion of the
Congressional Record. •
Idaho Legislature in 1992 (designated as Memorial 401 in the U.S. House of Representatives) approved Idaho Senate Joint Memorial No. 116 (see
Congressional Record of April 29, 1992, at page 9804—text not provided in the
Congressional Record). •
Florida Legislature in 2012 (designated as POM-122 in the U.S. Senate) approved Florida House Memorial No. 83 (see
Congressional Record of July 25, 2012, at page S5378, with verbatim text provided). • On February 10, 2016, Florida lawmakers approved House Memorial No. 417 calling upon Congress, pursuant to Article V of the Federal Constitution, to assemble a Convention to prepare a constitutional amendment that would establish term limits upon members of Congress.
Supreme Court Legal scholars have discussed whether or not to impose term limits on the Supreme Court of the United States. Currently, Supreme Court justices are appointed for life "during good behavior." A sentiment has developed, among certain scholars, that the Supreme Court may not be accountable in a way that is most in line with the spirit of
checks and balances. Equally, scholars have argued that life tenure has taken on a new meaning in a modern context. Changes in medical care have markedly raised life expectancy and therefore have allowed justices to serve for longer than ever before. Many of the proposals center around a term limit for justices that would be 10, 18 years to 25 years in length. (Larry Sabato, Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia, suggested between 15 and 18 years.) The staggered term limits of 18 years proposed by and would allow for a new appointment to the Court every two years, which in effect would allow every president at least two appointments. Notwithstanding a lack of awareness, 52% of Americans approved of limiting terms to 18 years, while 35% disapproved. When asked how old is too old for a Supreme Court judge to serve if he seems healthy, 48% said "no limit as long as he is healthy", while 31% agreed that anyone over the age of 70 is too old. Some state lawmakers have officially expressed to Congress a desire for a federal constitutional amendment to limit terms of Supreme Court justices as well as of judges of federal courts below the Supreme Court level. While there might be others, below are three known examples: • In 1957, the
Alabama Legislature adopted Senate Joint Resolution No. 47 on the subject (appearing in the U.S. Senate's portion of the
Congressional Record on July 3, 1957, at page 10863, with full text provided). • In 1978, the Tennessee General Assembly adopted House Joint Resolution No. 21 on the subject (designated as POM-612 by the U.S. Senate and quoted in full in the
Congressional Record of April 25, 1978, at page 11437). • In 1998, the Louisiana House of Representatives adopted House Resolution No. 120 on the subject (designated as POM-511 by the U.S. Senate and quoted in full in the
Congressional Record of July 17, 1998, at page 16076). == State term limits ==