JUDICIARY

This suit is an outrageous attack on the integrity of our state courts. The fact is that the state Supreme Court has voted to declare the age 70 retirement provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution as not in violation of federal age discrimination law and not modified by any subsequent constitutional provision--despite the fact that many judges would personally like to continue serving after age 70 at full salary and with guaranteed tenure. The amount of money at stake for individual judges in this decision far exceeded the amount of money at stake in the pay raise issue.Similarly, it was alleged that judiciary would not vote to declare any portion of the casino legislation unconstitutional because they wanted they wanted the pay raise. But they voted to declare that local zoning approvals were needed under the Pennsylvania constitution, despite the fact that this will slow down the implementation of casino gambling to the chagrin of legislative leaders.I do not always agree with the decisions of Pennsylvania appellate courts. But allegations that the appellate judges are self-interested actors who ignore their responsibilities to the state and federal constitutions are totally false, demagogic, and mean-spirited.

October 7, 2005

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