Courts in other jurisdictions have also recognized that the principle of constitutional avoidance gives way where the constitutional question is of great public importance.

To the contrary, an impressive number of courts have determined that States lack the authority to add qualifications.

—the Delaware court rejected legislatively-imposed additional qualifications on constitutionally created judicial offices stating: We are convinced from all the authorities that the Legislative branch of government has no authority to add further qualifications in connection with a constitutional judicial officer where the qualifications are provided by the Constitution.

Several state courts have held that such a provision would not prevent the office holder from becoming a candidate for Congress or Senate, as the state prohibition added to, or detracted from, the qualifications for a member of Congress or Senator

—this Court approved the general principle of law that where the Constitution creates an office and prescribes the qualifications that the incumbent must possess, the Legislature has no power to add to those qualifications by statute.

—striking down law that prohibited a justice of the peace from running for mayor as an unconstitutional additional qualification

The Supreme Court of Delaware, faced with a statutory provision that no judicial officer, during his term nor within six months after its termination, may be a candidate for an elective office, found it added to the elective office to which the judicial officer had aspired a further and additional qualication to that specified in the Constitution, ie, that such a candidate may not be …