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Pa. judges sue over mandatory retirement

Six Pennsylvania judges filed suit Wednesday, alleging that the state retirement age of 70 for members of the bench violates the U.S. Constitution and the Pennsylvania Constitution.

Six Pennsylvania judges filed suit Wednesday, alleging that the state retirement age of 70 for members of the bench violates the U.S. Constitution and the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The plaintiffs are Westmoreland County Court Judge John Driscoll, Northampton County Court Judge Leonard N. Zito, and Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judges John W. Herron, Benjamin Lerner, Sandra Mazer Moss, and Joseph D. O'Keefe. Gov. Corbett and three state officials are named as defendants in the suit, filed in Commonwealth Court.

The complaint claims that mandatory retirement, which kicks in at the end of the calendar year during which a judge turns 70, is a violation of the equal-protection and due-process clauses of the U.S. Constitution and Article I of the state constitution.   - Robert Moran