Wyoming terminates term limits.

• Position: Trends And Transitions - Brief Article

Legislative term limits never made it out of the gate in Wyoming. The state's high court found the limits unconstitutional in May. They were to take effect with this year's elections, barring 13 legislators from running for reelection.

The Wyoming Supreme Court found that term limits were an additional qualification for holding legislative office, and it is unconstitutional to establish that by statute. Qualifications for office must be laid out in the state constitution, the justices said.

Unlike most term limit laws, which generally are in the constitution, Wyoming's were statutory. In this aspect, the Wyoming case is similar to those that invalidated term limits in Massachusetts and Washington in the 1990s.

The court did not address whether term limits themselves are constitutional; it judged only the manner in which they were imposed. This is true in all cases in which term limits laws have been overturned...