Blueprint Draft
This is a Draft of the final Blueprint.
It is written in plain language for ease of understanding and to convey the thoughts and intentions of the proposed changes.It is not meant to represent the actual language necessary to make changes to the Constitution.
[use the comments below for suggested additions, modification, or deletions to the draft.]
TERM LIMITS
Legislative Branch (Congress)
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Elected members of the House of Representatives serve four-year terms.
Members serve a maximum of five terms (total: concurrently or not) for a total of 20 years in the House of Representatives.
To be elected to the House of Representatives, members must meet the minimum age and citizenship/state requirements (see Age Limits Section of the Blueprint).
Elected members of the House of Representatives may not serve past the maximum age listed in the age requirements, regardless of the number of years left in a term (see Age Limits Section of the Blueprint).
[This means that even if a member has not completed a term, once they reach the Age Limit for serving in Congress they cannot continue to serve and someone else must be elected or appointed until the next election to serve in their place.]
SENATE
Elected members of the Senate serve six-year terms.
Senators may serve a maximum of three terms (in total: concurrently or not) for a total of 18 years in the Senate.
To be elected to the Senate, members must meet the minimum age and citizenship/state requirements (see Age Limits Section of the Blueprint).
Elected members of the Senate may not serve past the maximum age listed in the age requirements, regardless of the number of years left in a term (see Age Limits Section of the Blueprint).
[This means that even if a member has not completed a term, once they reach the Age Limit for serving in Congress they cannot continue to serve and someone else must be elected or appointed until the next election to serve in their place.]
Pursuant to the Age Limits section of the Blueprint, members of either chamber of Congress (the House of Representatives or the Senate) is eligible, if elected, to serve in both chambers
[This means, theoretically, that someone could be elected at age 25 and serve in the House of Representatives for 20 years, then be elected at the age of 45 to the Senate and serve another 18 years, thus serving in congress for a total of 38 years.]
Executive Branch
This Blueprint does not recommend changes to the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution.
The 22nd Amendment states that no person may serve more than 2 elected terms as President (total: concurrently or not) except if also serving up to 2 years of another President’s term, thus the maximum number of years someone may serve as President is ten.
Judicial Branch
This Blueprint recommends a new Amendment with respect to Article III of the Constitution as it relates to lifetime appointments of the Judicial Branch. Thus, it would not repeal/replace the entire Article III but rather only amend the portion of ‘lifetime appointment’ of Article III. This is not a Term Limit issue but rather an Age Limit one. (See Age Limits, Judicial Branch Section of this Blueprint)
[Additional changes within the new proposed Amendment with respects to Senate confirmations of Judicial appointments can be found under the Congress Section of this Blueprint.]
AGE LIMITS
Legislative Branch
CONGRESS
No changes are proposed in this Blueprint for the current minimum requirements for election to the U.S. House of Representatives: 25 years of age + 7 years citizenship + inhabitant of the state they represent when elected [source: U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 2, clause 2].
No changes are proposed in this Blueprint for the current minimum requirements for election to the U.S. Senate: 30 years of age + 9 years citizenship + inhabitant of the state they represent when elected [source: U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 3, clause 3].
A new Amendment is proposed to create an Age Limit wherein members elected to either chamber of Congress (The House of Representatives and Senate) may not hold elected office past the age of 70. Regardless of the number of years remaining in any elected term, once a member of Congress reaches the age of 70, they are no longer eligible to serve.
(If a member turns 70 in the middle of a legislative session, they may continue serving through the end of that session but may not continue into the following legislative session.)
If a member of either branch of Congress reaches the age limit (70) before completing their current ‘Term’ of election, the majority party must appoint a new member to take the place of the age limited member for the remainder of the term whereby a new election will select the next member for that seat.
Executive Branch
No changes are proposed in this Blueprint for the current minimum requirements for election to the office of the President: 35 years of age + Citizen of the United States + 14 Years Residency within the United States. [source: U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 1, clause 5].
A new Amendment is proposed to include an Age Limit for the eligibility requirements for election to the office of the President. No person shall hold the Office of the President past the age of 70. In order to be elected or re-elected, no person may be over the age of 66. This Age Limit supersedes the Term Limits Amendment.
[This means that even if someone has been elected President, they are ineligible to be re-elected if they are or will be 67 years of age or older at the time of the inauguration].
Judicial Branch
A new Amendment is proposed to include an Age Limit for the eligibility requirements for serving on any Federal Judicial appointment including the Supreme Court. No person shall hold their Judicial appointment past the age of 70. (This Amendment supersedes the Article III provision that federal judges are appointed for life).
Any Judicial Appointed Judge who reaches the age of 70 will be removed from their appointed office no later than the last day of their 70th year of age.