Wyoming Secretary of State Max Maxfield has won a year-long law suit to remove term limits for most statewide elected officials. Nearly a decade ago, the Wyoming Supreme Court overturned a voter initiative that instituted term limits – but the reversal only applied to state legislators. Secretary of State Max Maxfield says he believed that term limits were also unconstitutional when it came to his own office, and those of other statewide elected officials. So, he waited until he was in this – his final term – to file suit as an individual.
This week, the Wyoming Supreme Court sided with him, ruling term limits unconstitutional for the offices of secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction.
Maxfield says that despite the victory, he hasn’t decided about running for a third term.
“It allows me to explore the opportunity of running again. Before, it would have been illegal for me to go out and ask people for money or to go out and tell people I was running for office. So this frees me up from that, but it really doesn’t make a decision for me today.”
The court declined to rule on the question of term limits for the governor.