Posted on 04/26/2022 4:59:09 PM PDT by aimhigh
After the Civil War, Southern politicians fearful of losing their grip on power decried the influx of “carpetbaggers” from the North. Tennessee lawmakers today seem to have similar fears.
On April 13, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, returned SB 2616 to the legislature (meaning it became law despite his lack of signature). The bill requires any candidate running for Congress to have resided in the state for three years to run in primary elections.
Given that the law is patently unconstitutional under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, you may wonder what suddenly inspired the Tennessee General Assembly to add this requirement to the state’s long-standing rules of eligibility. The answer to that question seems to be: Morgan Ortagus.
Article I, Section II of the Constitution provides that “No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.” That’s it.
Those are the only three qualifications of eligibility for a candidate running for the U.S. House. Imposing a state residency requirement might seem reasonable to some. Others might view it as bias against newcomers. But one’s opinion of the fairness or unfairness of such a requirement doesn’t really matter. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, such additional qualifications imposed by states are unconstitutional.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
I do believe that Washington State, for one, has a similar law that a former NYTimes columnist is legally challenging! Yet this escapes the LEFT’s attack?
Curious, no?
Bill Lee was my favorite sox pitcher when I was growing up.
It’s not new. Rule was changed in 2017 by TN GOP.
More fake news.
Tennessee got around the constitutional problem by only applying the residency requirement to party primaries. Anyone who meets the requirements for holding federal office laid out in the U.S. Constitution can still run for those offices, but they have to run as write-in candidates or independents.
The Constitution may not prohibit them from running, but there is nothing that says that they have to be allowed to run on a particular party.
There is nothing in the Constitution that lets a person run as a party candidate.
The party sets those rules. Ortagus is perfectly free to run for Congress in TN. She just can’t do it as a Republican.
Any law passed on this is unconstitutional.
However the political parties CAN make such rules. And the TN GOP did exactly that.
That is true. States, have always set restrictions for other parties that are not Republican or Democrat. Primaries, or getting on any ballot, always have a different standard. Hans is suggesting, that parties not have standards, and that all parties are equal. Perhaps that should be the case, and we have hundreds of candidates for every election.
ah yes. the illegal “laws” passed by the two party firsters to protect their so called tax funded “primaries” against the American people, including their own party voters. they should all be abolished.
choose your party candidates in a a non-taxpayer, party funded, transparent convention of party delegates or people. all American citizens who are card carrying party members welcome to vote or run. simple, fair, no “protective” laws necessary. just like voting with stocks, only one “stock” per member.
let them all run and let the people decide.
That’s because TN has open primaries. Dems could put in their own candidate and cross over to vote for him. The rules also say you had to be active in the party for a certain length of time.
Yes, it clearly applies to primaries, not to national elections.
“Why.. is blatantly”
If it’s blatant then it doesn’t require an explanation.
We Tennesseans support this residency and eligibility requirement to prevent carpetbaggers and phonies from trying to buy office.
This occurred in Oregon, where the columnist tried to run for governor as a Democrat.
Hate to tell you but it didn't work. Notice some states are just letting anyone run and the top two contenders win the primary. I doubt there is a real plan to deny Republicans seats in that rule change but you never know. {:~)
I’m in TN-5. It worked. We got 3 RINO phonies off the ballot, and 2 of them carpetbaggers with one waving an endorsement from President Trump who had zero support locally.
I do not even agree with out-of-state political contributions to state politicians, no matter what office federal or state, if you are representing a state the funding for your campaign should come from within that same state.
I don’t know about the constitutionality of it. But it sounds Federalust in nature and ‘carpetbaggery’ abounds because of it.
Ah YES and thank you!
The inestimable (or is that the over-estimable) Nicholas Kristof, who has failed (apparently) to meet the legal challenge and has, instead, returned to cultivating his inherited estate(s) with selling hard cider & pinot noir grapes.
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