The official ballot text for Proposal #6 reads as follows:
Increasing Age until which Certain State Judges Can Serve
The proposed amendment to the Constitution, amending sections 2 and 25 of article 6, would increase the maximum age until which certain state judges may serve as follows: (a) a Justice of the Supreme Court would be eligible for five additional two?year terms after the present retirement age of 70, instead of the three such terms currently authorized; and (b) a Judge of the Court of Appeals who reaches the age of 70 while in office would be permitted to remain in service on the Court for up to 10 years beyond the present retirement age of 70 in order to complete the term to which that Judge was appointed. Shall the proposed amendment be approved?
What it Means?
The current mandatory retirement age for judges is 70, set in 1869. Proposition 6 would change the limit for two courts: the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, and the state Supreme Court.
The current rule is simple for Court of Appeals judges: they must retire at the end of the year in which they turn 70. For Supreme Court justices, after they turn 70, they can get up to three two-year extensions if a panel of appellate judges decides their services are needed and a doctor thinks they can still do the job. A Supreme Court justice cannot continue serving after age 76.
Proposition 6 would change both rules and allow both types of judges to serve until age 80.
The basic arguments for and against this proposition essentially boil down to this: Should New York end the practice of putting seasoned, capable judges off the bench due to their age, or should the state open up its courts to new judges so they are not ruled by a few individuals for long periods of time?