|
DENVER, CO---Term limits for judges?
Citizens in Colorado may have a chance to limit rein in judicial independence and take back the courts.
A proposal for judicial term limits, Initiative 75, has been approved for the November ballot by the state Supreme Court while a second proposal, Initiative 90, is still pending before the court.
If voters approve the measures, Colorado would become the first state in the nation to limit the number of terms served by state appellate judges and Supreme Court justices.
If approved, state Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey and six appellate court judges would be removed from the bench.
The effort to limit the amount of time a judge sits on the bench is being let by former state Senate President John Andrews who says that the judicial activism of sitting judges extends past the limits of judicial authority and cuts across party lines.
"When they put those black robes on, there is this disturbing tendency to overstep the constitutionality of the judicial branch", he said. "It's simple logic that you don't term-limit two branches of your government and give de facto life tenure to the third".
Andrews says he believes there is enough support to get the measures on the ballot and says in makes perfect sense to apply term limits of the courts because so many people have the perception that "we have runaway courts".
With the Supreme Court approving the language for the ballot measure, in order to place the issue before the voters on the November ballot, supporters of the ballot initiative will need to collect nearly 68,000 signatures by Aug. 7.
Under the proposal, Colorado appellate judges and justices couldn't serve more than 12 years or three four-year terms. As it now stands, judges on the Court of Appeals serve eight year terms and Supreme Court justices serve 10-year terms. There is no limit to the number of terms they may serve but there is a mandatory retirement age of 72.
Currently, there is no state limiting the number of terms a judge can serve.
As expected, the judiciary is opposed to the proposal as is the state bar association. Roger Clark bar president, said term limits are "inconsistent with the independence of the judiciary".
Initiative 90 would require that any sitting Supreme Court or appellate judges who have served more than 12 years would have to leave the bench by the 2008 general election. Initiative 75 would not affect the current terms of sitting judges.
Andrews says that if the Supreme Court approves the ballot language for Initiative 90, then his group would decide which measure to pursue and gather signatures to put it on the ballot. 5-30-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
|
