Letters: Raise judges' retirement age to 75

ISSUE | PENNSYLVANIA JUDICIARY

Raise mandatory retirement age to 75

Leave it to politicians to see absolutely everything in partisan terms ("A heated battle over retirement and judges," Tuesday). As the prime sponsor of the bill to change the Pennsylvania Constitution to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges to 75, a process that took four years to get this far - constitutional amendments must pass both houses of the General Assembly in two different sessions before being offered to the voters for consideration - I can say that the political party of any Supreme Court justice who might benefit was the furthest thing from my mind.

Should we force our most experienced judges off the bench in their prime? A judge who matures in his years on the bench, gaining both legal and human experience and wisdom, will be better at dispensing justice, not worse. We should keep those folks around for the benefit of our system of justice, and not for the benefit of any particular judge or justice.

|Kate M. Harper, state representative, 61st Legislative District, Blue Bell, kharper@pahousegop.com