{
  "id": "RL31532",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL31532",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 101939,
      "date": "2002-08-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:06:04.266941",
      "title": "Congressional Candidacy, Incarceration, and the Constitution's Inhabitancy Qualification",
      "summary": "The issue of whether one is permitted to run for and hold office in the House of Representatives\neither after a felony conviction, and/or while incarcerated in prison, specifically involves a question\nof the qualifications, or disqualifications, to be a Representative in Congress. There are three, and\nonly three \"positive\" qualifications for Representative in Congress set out in the United States\nConstitution: (1) age (25 years); (2) citizenship (7 years); and (3) inhabitancy (one must be an\n\"inhabitant\" of the State from which chosen \"when elected\").\n  It is now well-settled that these three qualifications for office in the Constitution are the\n exclusive  qualifications for Congress (and are not merely \"minimum\" qualifications),\nand that they\nare fixed and may not be supplemented by Congress nor by any State unilaterally. Specifically, there\nis no qualification in the Constitution that one  not  be a convicted felon (nor a\n\"disqualification\" for\noffenses other than in the14th Amendment for certain treasonous conduct by those who have taken\nan oath of office). Similarly, there is no qualification in the Constitution that a person, when elected\nto Congress,  not  be in prison. Furthermore, no State could permissibly implement such\nadditional\nqualifications for  federal  office through election laws or ballot procedures. The Framers\nof the\nConstitution intentionally implemented a representative scheme whereby significant discretion is\ngiven and deference provided to the judgment and choice of the people as to whom they wish to have\nrepresent them in Congress. In this respect, the adage of the French political philosopher Joseph de\nMaistre might apply: \"Every nation has the government it deserves.\" \n  The existing constitutional qualifications do require one to be an \"inhabitant\" of the State from\nwhich chosen \"when elected.\" Does being placed in a prison facility outside of the State in which\none is a candidate disqualify one from being an \"inhabitant\" of that first State? Congressional\nprecedents, as well as the provision's enactment history, indicate that \"inhabitancy\" is not to be\ninterpreted in an overly strict or legalistic sense, but rather was meant to assure a real connection to\nthe State from which elected. The development of the concept of \"inhabitancy\" in House \nqualifications cases indicates that the term appears to be somewhat akin to the legal concept of\n\"domicile,\" encompassing not only actions taken which evidence the establishment of a principal\n\"home\" in a State, but also recognizing a person's intent. Physical presence in the State at the time\nof election is, of course, a significant factor for consideration, but is not necessarily the determining\nfactor. When an individual had lived in a State previously but then had physically been away from\nthat State, considerations relevant to determining \"inhabitancy\" in that first State might include\nwhether one \"had left there any of the insignia of a household establishment\"; whether one retained\na business in the first State; the location of one's family; one's intent to establish residency in the\nnew State; one's intent to return to the first State, both stated and \"deduc[ed] from facts\"; as well as\nphysical presence or absence in the first State at the time of election. When one is out of one's\n\"home State\"  involuntarily  at the time of election, that may certainly be a significant\nconsideration\nin determining one's intent with regard to inhabitancy.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Constitutional Questions"
  ]
}