Bond v. Floyd

The Constitution presents few restrictions regarding who may run for a seat in the Senate or the House of Representatives. The Qualifications Clause, in Article I, sections 2 and 3, makes stipulations in only three areas: age, citizenship, and residency. To run for the House, one must be at least 25 years of age, a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and a resident of the state from which one intends to run. As for senators, they must be 30 years of age or older, citizens for nine years or more, and residents of their respective states.

Congress has upheld these as the requirements for service in the Senate or House. The Supreme Court, with its ruling in Powell v. McCormack (1969), affirmed the constitutional criteria as the only guidelines. Nonetheless, the two houses of Congress have often acted as judges of their members' qualifications, and both chambers have the authority to expel members. Expulsions in the House have occurred only four times: three of them in the Civil War era and the fourth in connection with the ABSCAM bribery scandal in 1981.