Cite as: 531 U. S. 510 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
petitioner's office, no less, has denominated the labels as "the Scarlet Letter." App. 34-35. We agree with the sense of these descriptions. They convey the substantial political risk the ballot labels impose on current and prospective congressional members who, for one reason or another, fail to comply with the conditions set forth in Article VIII for passing its term limits amendment. Although petitioner now claims that the labels "merely" inform Missouri voters about a candidate's compliance with Article VIII, she has acknowledged under oath that the ballot designations would handicap candidates for the United States Congress. Id., at 66. To us, that is exactly the intended effect of Article VIII.
Indeed, it seems clear that the adverse labels handicap candidates "at the most crucial stage in the election process—the instant before the vote is cast." Anderson v. Martin, 375 U. S. 399, 402 (1964). At the same time, "by directing the citizen's attention to the single consideration" of the candidates' fidelity to term limits, the labels imply that the issue "is an important—perhaps paramount—consideration in the citizen's choice, which may decisively influence the citizen to cast his ballot" against candidates branded as unfaithful. Ibid. While the precise damage the labels may exact on candidates is disputed between the parties, the labels surely place their targets at a political disadvantage to unmarked candidates for congressional office.19 Thus, far from
19 That much, apparently, also seemed clear to many Members of Congress operating under Article VIII or similar label laws adopted by other States, who consequently tailored their behavior to avoid the ballot designations. For example, in 1997, the House of Representatives voted on 11 different proposals to adopt a term limits amendment to the Constitution; 7 of those proposals were dictated by voter initiatives in 7 different States. Representative Blunt of Missouri introduced the Article VIII version to "ensure that members of the Missouri delegation have the ability to vote for language that meets a verbatim test of [the] Missouri Amendment" and thereby avoid "the scarlet letter provision." 143 Cong. Rec. H494 (Feb. 12, 1997). However, because each of the state initiatives provided
525
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