Chapter XVI: Section 2: Clause 1. The House of Representatives shall be

composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

Clause 2. 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 the State in which he shall be chosen.

Qualifications of Members of Congress

CONGRESSIONAL PROTECTION OF RIGHT TO VOTE FOR REPRESENTATIVES

Although the qualifications of electors of Members of Congress are defined by State law,[116] the right to vote for such Representatives is derived from the Federal Constitution.[117] Unlike the rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, this privilege is secured against the actions of individuals as well as of the States.[118] It embraces the right to cast a ballot and to have it counted honestly.[119] Where a primary election is made by law an integral part of the procedure of choice or where the choice of a representative is in fact controlled by the primary, the Constitution safeguards the rights of qualified electors to participate therein.[120] Congress may protect this right by appropriate legislation.[121] In prosecutions instituted under section 19 of the Criminal Code,[122] the Court had held that failure to count ballots lawfully cast,[123] or dilution of their value by stuffing the ballot box with fraudulent ballots[124] constitutes a denial of the constitutional right to elect Representatives in Congress. But the bribery of voters, although within reach of Congressional power under other clauses of the Constitution, is not deemed to be an interference with the rights guaranteed by this section to other qualified voters.[125]

WHEN THE ABOVE QUALIFICATIONS MUST BE POSSESSED

The principal disputes which have arisen under these sections have related to the time as of which members-elect must fulfill the conditions of eligibility, and whether additional requirements may be imposed by federal or State law. Although on two occasions when it refused to seat persons who were ineligible when they sought to take the oath of office, the Senate indicated that eligibility must exist at the time of election, it is now established in both Houses that it is sufficient if the requirements are met when the oath is administered. Thus persons elected to either House before attaining the required age or term of citizenship have been admitted as soon as they became qualified.[126]

ENLARGEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS

Writing in The Federalist[127] with reference to the election of Members of Congress, Hamilton expressed the opinion that "the qualifications of persons who may * * * be chosen * * * are defined and fixed in the Constitution and are unalterable by the legislature." The question remained academic until the Civil War, when Congress passed a law requiring its members to take an oath that they had never been disloyal to the Federal Government. In subsequent contests over the seating of men charged with disloyalty, the right of Congress to establish by law other qualifications for its members than those contained in the Constitution was sharply challenged. Nevertheless, both the House and Senate, relying on this act, did refuse to seat several persons.[128] At this time the principal argument against the statute was that all persons were eligible for the office of Representative unless the Constitution made them ineligible. In Burton _v._ United States,[129] the argument was given a new twist. A law providing that a Senator or Representative convicted of unlawfully receiving money for services rendered before a government department should be "rendered forever thereafter incapable of holding any office of honor, trust or profit under the Government of the United States," was assailed as an unconstitutional interference with the authority of each House to judge the qualifications of, or to expel, one of its own members. The Court construed the statute not to affect the offender's tenure as a Senator, and left undecided the power of Congress to impose additional qualifications (or disqualifications).[130] In exercising the power granted by section 5 to judge the qualifications of its own members, each House has asserted the power to inquire into the conduct of a member-elect prior to his election. In 1900 the House of Representatives refused to seat a person who practiced polygamy,[131] and in 1928 the Senate voted to exclude a Senator-elect on the ground that his acceptance of large campaign contributions from persons who were subject to regulation by a State Administrative Commission of which he had been Chairman were "contrary to sound public policy" and tainted his credentials with fraud and corruption.[132]

INABILITY OF THE STATES TO ENLARGE

A State may not add to the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution for members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Asserting this principle, the House in 1807 seated a member whose election was contested on the ground that he had not been twelve months a resident of the district from which elected as required by State law. No attempt was made to ascertain whether these requirements were met because the State law was deemed to be unconstitutional.[133] Both the House and Senate have seated members elected during their term of office as State judges, despite the provision of State constitutions purporting to bar the election of judges to any other office under the State or the United States during such term.[134]

Clause 3. [Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons].[135] The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

THE CENSUS REQUIREMENT

While section 2 expressly provides for an enumeration of persons, Congress has repeatedly directed an enumeration not only of the free persons in the States, but also of those in the territories, and has required all persons over eighteen years of age to answer an ever-lengthening list of inquiries concerning their personal and economic affairs. This extended scope of the census has received the implied approval of the Supreme Court;[136] it is one of the methods whereby the national legislature exercises its inherent power to obtain the information necessary for intelligent legislative action. Although taking an enlarged view of its power in making the enumeration of persons called for by this section, Congress has not always complied with its positive mandate to reapportion representatives among the States after the census is taken. It failed to make such a reapportionment after the census of 1920, being unable to reach agreement for allotting representation without further increasing the size of the House. Ultimately, by the act of June 18, 1929,[137] it provided that the membership of the House of Representatives should henceforth be restricted to 435 members, to be distributed among the States by the so-called "method of major fractions" which had been earlier employed in the apportionment of 1911.

Clause 4. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

Clause 5. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.