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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Courts - "Most state judges in the US must retire in 70s"

Rachael LaCorte of the AP has this lengthy story today -- a few quotes:

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Chief Justice Gerry Alexander has written more than 330 opinions over the nearly 15 years he has served on Washington state's highest court, and the state's longest-serving chief justice doesn't expect to slow down in his final two years on the bench.

"As I sit here looking out through these eyes, I feel the same as I did when I became a judge. I think I have my wits about me," he said, laughing, "but maybe you should ask somebody else."

Alexander is set to retire at the end of 2011, the year in which he will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 for judges in Washington. Alexander announced last month that he will step down next year from his post as chief justice and serve out the remainder of his term as an associate justice in order to ease the transition to his retirement.

Washington state is among the majority of states that require state judges to step down once they reach a certain age, varying between 70 and 75, depending on the state. Vermont has the highest age limit, at 90. Washington state's age limit was enacted in 1952, after voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment referred to them by the Legislature. * * *

Howard Eglit, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said the age limit laws were enacted in many states "based in good measure on the assumption that increasing age carries with it declining intellectual ability."

"It's an inflexible rule which is harsh in one respect because it weeds out both the competent and the incompetent, but on the other hand is merciful, because it doesn't require people to be told 'you just are not competent anymore to do the job,'" said Eglit, who has written extensively about age discrimination in the workplace, including within the legal system.

The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which bans mandatory retirement in all but a few circumstances, has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court as not extending protection to older judges.

Nineteen states, including California, Nebraska and Maine, don't require state judges to step down in their twilight years. While Arkansas is included among those that don't have an age limit, judges there forfeit their benefits if they run for their seat past age 70. This past June, the Illinois Supreme Court tossed out judicial age limits there on technical grounds. And some states with mandatory age limits, including Washington, allow retired judges to serve on the bench in substitute roles.

There are no age limits for federal judges, who under the U.S. Constitution are appointed for life. Four members of the nine-member U.S. Supreme Court are over 70: Justice John Paul Stevens is the oldest at 89, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 76, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy are both 73.

ILB: In Indiana:
Judges of the appellate courts are appointed by the governor from a list of three names submitted by the state judicial nominating commission. After two years, appellate court judges are on the ballot for 10-year terms via a "yes/no" vote. There is no limit on the number of terms, but the retirement age is 75.
For more on Indiana , see this ILB entry from Sept. 4, 2006, headed "Means, 77, to continue as judge: He says age is no barrier to doing his job.." It touches on the retirement age for trial court judges in Indiana, and near the end of the entry, appellate judges.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 25, 2009 04:28 PM
Posted to Courts in general