Bond v. Floyd

Impact

Bond v. Floyd guaranteed that a legislator’s admission to a legislature was to be validated by qualifications and election by the citizenry, not by that person’s ability to convince other legislators that his or her views were sufficiently orthodox. Consequently, candidates for office were free to explain their views and encouraged to present those views to their constituents to ensure that those candidates would make appropriate representatives for their constituents. In addition, the decision freed candidates who might have come out of civil rights protest organizations and antiwar organizations to express themselves fully and run for office without fear that they might not be able to take the seats they had won. The list of legislators in state legislatures and the halls of Congress who fit this description is much longer than it would have been without Bond v. Floyd.