Dicta From U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton on Qualifications

I'm teaching Thornton today in Constitutional Law. The case held, of course, that the states may not add qualifications to congressional candidates beyond those in the text of the Constitution. Here is how the Court described the Qualifications Clause in Thornton:

"We find further evidence of the Framers' intent in Art. I, Sec. 5, cl. 1, which provides: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its own Members." That Art. I, Sec. 5 vests a federal tribunal with ultimate authority to judge a Member's qualifications is fully consistent with the understanding that those qualifications are fixed in the Federal Constitution, but not with the understanding that they can be altered by the States."

According to the Court, the Qualifications Clause gives Congress "ultimate authority" to judge a Member's qualifications. Not exclusive authority. This is just one more piece of evidence against an exclusive reading of the Qualifications Clause.