The battle for congressional term limits was lost this year, on two fronts. In the House of Representatives, four versions of a constitutional amendment to limit congressional tenure went down to defeat. Soon after, the Supreme Court, in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, struck down the attempt by state legislatures and popular majorities in the states to impose their own limits on the tenure of their federal legislators. As if to add an exclamation point, the Senate in mid-October turned back a resolution that would merely have expressed support for the concept.

Despite these losses, the war for congressional term limits goes on. Republican presidential candidates are hotly disputing the title of Most Eager to Limit Terms-witness Steve Forbes’s recent attacks on Bob Dole for allegedly dragging his feet; and House Speaker Newt Gingrich has promised to take up the issue promptly in the next Congress. Even so, the odds against passing a constitutional amendment (the only avenue left to reformers) are enormous; and before plunging the country into yet another futile, protracted struggle to amend the Constitution, conservatives ought to pause and rethink their strategy.