Term limits must be added as an amendment to the Constitution. A 1995 Supreme Court decision (U.S. Term Limits v Thornton) declared that states could not “individually” impose term limits on their own federal delegation through state statute. However, they may collectively pass a term limits amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would apply to all members of Congress. Article V of the Constitution allows either 34 states at convention or both chambers of Congress to propose constitutional amendments. 38 states must ratify the proposal in order for it to be enshrined as law. The amendment would adjust Article I, sections 2 and 3 by adding a qualification that Congress members will not be qualified to run for reelection once they have surpassed the term limits indicated in the amendment.
Article I. Section 2 outlines the qualifications for U.S. Representatives as “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 that state in which he shall be chosen.”
Article I. Section 3 describes the quclifications for U.S. Senators as “No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.”