3/2 Equal Limits Amendment

Canonical Constructed Congressional Eligibility Instrument

This page presents the canonical text of the constructed 3/2 Equal Limits Amendment, establishing separate lifetime Election Eligibility Boundaries of three House elections and two Senate elections.

The instrument serves as a complete constitutional specimen for examining the 3/2 architecture: separate chamber calculations, lifetime aggregation, qualifying unelected service, permanent same-chamber eligibility exhaustion, transition at ratification, anti-circumvention, and allocated implementation authority. Its assigned role is analytical demonstration; questions of advocacy, adoption, and political desirability remain outside that role.

The instrument contains:

  • separate lifetime Election Eligibility Boundaries for the House and Senate;

  • separate chamber eligibility calculations;

  • lifetime aggregation of elections and qualifying unelected service;

  • permanent exhaustion of eligibility for election or appointment to the affected chamber;

  • a closed ratification-boundary additional-election allowance;

  • anti-circumvention provisions; and

  • allocated state, chamber, and congressional responsibilities.

The companion Worked Example — 3/2 Equal Limits Amendment performs Architectural Classification, Structural Validity, Normative Adequacy, and Integrated Synthesis. This page supplies the reference instrument evaluated there.

Constructed constitutional amendments are presented as complete Article V proposing instruments. The resolving clause specifies ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States and leaves ratification timing open, permitting the proposal architecture and operative article to be evaluated together.

Resolving Clause

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),

That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States.

Article

Section 1. Equal Limit

No person shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than three times or to the Senate more than twice. A person who reaches the applicable limit under Section 3 shall thereafter be ineligible for election or appointment to that chamber.

The limits shall be calculated separately by chamber. Service in one chamber shall neither count toward the limit in the other nor reset, restore, or extend eligibility in either.

Section 2. Transitional Application

Notwithstanding Section 1, a person serving in either chamber at ratification who has reached the limit for that chamber may be elected once more to that chamber, solely at the first election following ratification at which the term then held is to be filled. The allowance shall expire at the conclusion of that election if the person is not elected.

All elections and service countable under Section 3, whether occurring before or after ratification, shall count. Ratification shall create no reset. An election permitted by this Section shall count under Section 3.

Section 3. Counting of Elections and Service

(a) Each election to a chamber shall count once for that chamber, regardless of the portion of the term served.

(b) All service in a chamber commenced without election to the term shall be aggregated throughout life. Each two years of such House service and each six years of such Senate service shall count as one election. Any remaining House service exceeding one year or Senate service exceeding three years shall count as one additional election.

(c) Elections and service countable under this Section shall aggregate across all House districts and all States represented in the Senate.

Section 4. Anti-Circumvention

No interpretation, procedure, or action—including a change of district, State, or chamber; the sequence or interruption of service; or the characterization of service—shall alter a count required by Section 3 or permit an election or appointment prohibited by Section 1 or not authorized by Section 2.

Section 5. Operation and Administration

This Article shall be self-executing. Each State shall apply it through ordinary ballot-access and election-certification processes using public records of elections and service. States may collect, exchange, and publish such records.

Each House shall judge the elections, returns, and qualifications of its members subject to this Article.

Congress may provide for the collection, transmission, and publication of such records but may not alter the limits, counting rules, or transitional allowance established by this Article.

Questions for Further Examination

  • How do separate chamber calculations preserve accumulated eligibility histories across district, State, and chamber changes?

  • How do election counts and aggregated unelected service interact when election events and service duration use different counting mechanisms?

  • How does the ratification-boundary allowance preserve antecedent counting while temporarily providing different remaining eligibility to a closed class?

  • How can same-chamber eligibility become permanently exhausted while separately calculated eligibility in the other chamber remains available?

  • What exactly is equal in the 3/2 design when the House and Senate use a common lifetime architecture but produce six and twelve ordinary years of permissible service?

  • How do state election administration, each House’s qualification authority, and congressional record support allocate implementation responsibility without merging those institutional functions?

  • How does the reference instrument distinguish implementation authority from the constitutional authority required to alter the eligibility architecture?

Document Metadata

  • Document type: Constructed Article V analytical specimen

  • Institutional scope: United States House of Representatives and Senate

  • Election Eligibility Boundaries: Three House election counts; two Senate election counts

  • Ordinary full-term duration: Six House years; twelve Senate years

  • Counting architecture: Election counting with qualifying unelected-service conversion

  • Aggregation: Lifetime and chamber-specific; each chamber history preserved across district or State changes, interruption, and chamber movement

  • Eligibility Exhaustion: Permanent ineligibility for election or appointment to the affected chamber

  • Transition: Closed ratification-boundary additional-election allowance

  • Implementation: State election administration; each House’s qualification authority; congressional record support

  • Framework evaluation: Worked Example — 3/2 Equal Limits Amendment

  • Last revised: September 2026

Related Pages

→ Worked Example — 3/2 Equal Limits Amendment
Applies Architectural Classification, Structural Validity, Normative Adequacy, Integrated Synthesis, Structural Significance, and Response Pattern to this reference instrument.

→ Worked Example — Canonical House Three-Term Rotation Design
Examines the three-House-election component of the 3/2 architecture as a standalone lifetime eligibility design.

→ Worked Example — U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge
Examines the continuing public commitment mechanism built around the three-House / two-Senate amendment architecture.

→ Worked Example — Congressional Term-Limit Amendment Vote Sequence (1995–1996)
Examines the congressional amendment sequence preceding the later 3/2 pledge architecture.

→ Article V Response to Congressional Rotation Initiatives
Places the 3/2 amendment architecture within the constitutional proposal pathway available for congressional eligibility change.

Last updated — September 2026