(4:3), ruled that the restrictions imposed by the 2006 amendments were invalid. However, as this case was decided urgently (with the federal election to be held on Saturday, 21 August 2010), the Court did not publish reasons until 15 December 2010. In separate judgments, Chief Justice French, Justices Gummow and Bell, and Justice Crennan held that these provisions contravened the requirement, contained in sections 7 and 24 of the Constitution, that members of both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament be "directly chosen by the people". The Chief Justice considered that the adverse legal and practical effect of the challenged provisions upon the exercise of the entitlement to vote was disproportionate to their advancement of the requirement of direct choice by the people. Justices Gummow and Bell, with whom Justice Crennan broadly agreed, held that the provisions operated to achieve a disqualification from the entitlement to vote and that the disqualification was not reasonably appropriate and adapted to serve an end compatible with the maintenance of the system of government prescribed by the Constitution. Justice Crennan held that the democratic right to vote is supported and protected by the Constitution. In separate dissenting judgments, Justices Hayne, Heydon and Kiefel each held that the provisions did not contravene any limitation imposed by the Constitution on the legislative power of the Commonwealth to fix the date and time after which claims for enrolment or transfer of enrolment may not be considered before an election. Their Honours considered that the requirement of direct choice by the people was not infringed by the provisions challenged. See also Australian constitutional law . . . . References High Court of Australia cases 2010 in Australian law Australian constitutional law Rights in the Australian Constitution cases 2010 in case law Election law