Legislature might raise retirement age for judges and justices

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The Wyoming House has given final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove the mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices and District Court Judges. 

The current age is 70; the new legislation would raise the retirement age to 75.

Cheyenne Republican Dan Zwonitzer is sponsoring the bill and he says the state has lost some good judges this way.

“Increasing we are getting a lot of smart judges who are hitting the age of 70 who want to still be practicing,”Zwonitzer says.  “It’s really difficult for these judges to go back into private practice after being a judge, they are just effectively at retirement.  We have a lot of people in our workforce that are working far past 70.”

Zwonitzer adds that a number of good legislators are also over the age of 70. 

The proposed constitutional amendment will now be considered by the State Senate.