Because 75 is the new 65

gavelSpeaking of justices who are older than 70, state Sen. Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, is pushing a bill to raise the mandatory retirement age for district court and Court of Appeals judges so they could finish any term they began prior to age 75, rather than having to quit the moment they hit 75. The bill also would allow Kansas Supreme Court justices to work to the end of the six-year term during which they turned 73. “I think we need to take advantage of the wisdom of our elders,” he said. He also noted that the state has no mandatory retirement age for lawmakers, governor or other state jobs. Maybe it should. Or maybe the state should rethink the need for any mandatory retirement ages. With life expectancy having risen from 68 to 77 since 1950, and with Social Security unprepared for baby boomer retirements, people need to start thinking of 75 as the new 65 anyway.

Bruce may face opposition over what seems like a simple proposal, though, given the irrational contempt that some GOP legislators have for the judiciary these days.

3 Comments

  1. Hank Price
    Posted February 15, 2008 at 10:15 am | Permalink

    Well, Rhonda,

    Can you give an example of the “. . .irrational contempt that some GOP legislators have for the judiciary. . .”?

    Or is your comment merely an example of your irrational contempt for GOP legislators?

    Your bias is showing!

  2. MonkeyHawk
    Posted February 15, 2008 at 12:35 pm | Permalink

    “Hank Price” –

    I think Rhonda was highly circumspect when she cited the “. . .irrational contempt that some GOP legislators have for the judiciary. . .”

    It’s positively Orwellian how you Cons rail against “activist judges” when all you want are activist judges; just so long as they’re activists for your politcal agenda.

  3. Wiseman
    Posted February 15, 2008 at 11:00 pm | Permalink

    Are we talking about discriminating a person by their age or are we talking about their job performances?
    The reasons that I ask is that I know some people that are beyond retirement age even though they should be retired but can still work as hard as a twenty year old.
    Then on the other hand, there are people that are not close to retirement age and their job performance is bad.

One Trackback

  1. By Retirement Social Security on March 1, 2008 at 7:36 am

    Retirement Social Security…

    Please keep these excellent posts coming….