Bates v. Jones

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

WILKEN, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Do the lifetime legislative term limits provisions of the California Constitution, as enacted by Proposition 140 in 1990, violate the United States Constitution? This question implicates some of the core values of our American system of government: majority rule, minority protections, the right to vote, the autonomy of the States, and the role of the federal courts in upholding constitutional principles.

Majority rule is the basic assumption of American government. The legitimacy of the democratic process, however,…