Justice Kimball on Term Limits
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2007
- The majority opinion of Justice Catherine D. Kimball, which, over the dissent of Bernette J. Johnson held that, under Louisiana's Term Limits law, Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution, Democrat state senator Cleo Fields was precluded from running for re-election where he had been elected to finish the term of a resigned predecessor in office, and then elected to two subsequent terms, since he had served long enough to constitute the maximum "two and one-half terms," under Louisiana's term limits laws. In reaching this conclusion, the court explicitly refused to apply a statute, passed by the legislature, intended to circumvent Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution and keep Mr. Fields in office.
ISSUES:
- The issue in this case was whether the term limit clock on Senator Fields, who was elected to fill the term of a prior senator who had resigned, should have began to run on the date he was elected, or instead on the later date on which he was sworn in-- the difference being that he would have served a "half-term" if the relevant date was the date of election, thereby barring him from seeking re-election, while using the date of the swearing in would have left him short of a half-term, and thereby eligible for re-election.
HOLDING:
- The Majority held that the "elected to serve" language in Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution, which indicated that the term limit clock begins to run once a political office-holder is "elected to serve," refers to the date that one is elected to office, rather than the date upon which his term commences. This holding had the effect of barring then-Democrat Senator Cleo Fields from seeking re-election, since he was elected to serve more than half of a first term, and then served two more terms. In reaching this conclusion, the court explicitly refused to apply a statute, passed by the legislature, intended to circumvent Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution and keep Mr. Fields in office.
MAJORITY REASONING:
- (1) "The Title of an act may be instructive in ascertaining its meaning," and here, the title of the act indicates a desire to limit the number of times an elected offical may be elected.
- (2) Pursuant to this term-limits section of the Louisiana Constitution, "the date of the election, rather than the service of a person, is determinative."
DISSENT'S REASONING:
- (1) The only way to avoid application of the legislation intended to keep Fields in office is to declare it unconstitutional, and the Majority failed to do that.
- (2) The legislation designed to keep Fields in office was passed to clarifty Article 3, Section 4(E) of the Louisiana Constitution rather than to avoid its application.
COMMENTS:
- Justices voting with the majority demonstrated a commitment to enforcing the constitutional provision on term limits as written.
