New York Court of Appeals hears argument in case to end age cap for judges | amNewYork

A 77-year-old retired appellate judge argued that New York’s mandatory retirement age of 76 for Supreme Court justices constitutes civil rights discrimination. The state constitution requires administrative capacity certification starting at age 70 and retirement at age 76. After voters expanded civil rights protections in 2024 through an Equal Rights Amendment, the age cap became a new legal conflict. Three justices nearing certification or retirement sued to declare the retirement rules unenforceable, claiming they were impliedly repealed by the ERA. Their attorney argued the amendment and the retirement rules cannot be reconciled. A lower court dismissed the suit, reasoning that its logic would invalidate all age restriction laws, and an appellate court upheld that dismissal.

"A 77-year old retired New York state appellate court justice made the case on behalf of three other septuagenarian jurists in the state's highest appeals court last week that the court system's mandatory retirement age of 76 is a form of civil rights discrimination. The state constitution requires Supreme Court justices to undergo an administrative capacity certification process beginning at age 70 and mandates retirement at age 76."

"But since the state voters expanded civil rights protections in the state constitution in 2024, the judicial age cap is among the new legal conflicts to emerge from the change. The Equal Rights Amendment amended state constitutions to expand protections against discrimination based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex."

"Three state Supreme Court justices Robert J. Miller, Richard J. Montelione and Orlando Marrazzo, each on the cusp of mandatory certification or retirement sued the state last year to have the retirement laws declared unenforceable, arguing they were impliedly repealed by the ERA. The justices' attorney, John M. Leventhal, a retired Second Department Appellate Court justice, argued that the amendment and the state's retirement rules can't be harmonized or reconciled before the Court of Appeals on Wednesday."

"Manhattan Supreme Court dismissed the suit last year, finding that its logical conclusion would make all age restriction laws are explicitly unconstitutional. In March, the Appellate Division, First Department upheld that decision that the "

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