Thursday, March 28, 2013

PA Supreme Court to hear suits by judges challenging mandatory retirement

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced that it will hear arguments at its Harrisburg session in two of the three lawsuits filed by judges challenging Pennsylvania’s mandatory requirement that they retire in the year in which they turn 70, reported The Legal Intelligencer.

In a somewhat unusual order, the court today directed expedited briefing on whether the mandatory retirement provision for judges in the state constitution violates their state constitutional rights for “enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing and protecting property and reputation, and of pursuing their own happiness.”

The issue could have an impact on the future of the state Supreme Court because four of the six justices who are currently sitting will reach the age of 70 in the next six years: Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and Justices Max Baer, J. Michael Eakin and Thomas G. Saylor.

Castille will reach mandatory retirement next year, Saylor in 2016, Baer in 2017, and Eakin in 2018.

The judges prosecuting the lawsuits said that the court should exercise extraordinary jurisdiction because the plaintiffs face the “irreparable harm of being prematurely forced out of the judicial” positions to which they were elected, among other arguments.

To read more: http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202593959398&et=editorial&bu=The%20Legal%20Intelligencer&cn=TLI_PM_LegalAlert_20130328-2&src=EMC-Email&pt=TLI%20PM%20Legal%20Alert&kw=Supreme%20Court%20Grants%20Expedited%20Review%20of%20Mandatory%20Judicial%20Retirement&slreturn=20130228175851



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