The Judicial Selection Commission is seeking applicants for an anticipated vacancy on Hawaii’s five-member Supreme Court.
The new member would replace Associate Justice Richard Pollack, who will be required to step down when he reaches age 70 in July 2020.
Article VI Section 3 of the Hawaii State Constitution provides simply: “Justices and judges shall be retired upon attaining the age of seventy years.”
Pollack was appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in 2012. He had served as the State Public Defender for 13 years before being appointed a circuit court judge in 2000.
Pollack received high praise from those who presented testimony at the time of his appointment to the high court in 2012.
From a press release by the Judicial Selection Commission:
Associate Justice, Supreme Court, State of Hawaii
The Constitution of the State of Hawaii requires that the persons selected by the Commission be residents and citizens of the State of Hawaii and of the United States, and have been licensed to practice law by the Hawaii Supreme Court. An associate justice of the Supreme Court shall have been licensed for a period of not less than ten years preceding nomination. No judge shall, during the term of office, engage in the practice of law, or run for or hold any other office or position of profit under the United States, the State or its political subdivisions.
The term of office of an associate justice shall be ten years. The annual salary in Hawaii of an associate justice is $229,668.
Full-time judges and justices also receive employer contributions to premiums for enrollment in
the state-sponsored medical, drug, vision and dental plans, a free life insurance policy, state retirement benefits, a deferred compensation supplemental retirement savings plan, 13 paid holidays annually (14 days during election years), 21 vacation and 21 sick leave days per year. Benefits are subject to modification or termination due to changes in statutes, pertinent rules and regulations. Judges shall be retired upon attaining the age of seventy years.The Commission invites anyone who meets the constitutional requirements and is interested in the position to apply directly to the Commission.
Applications must be submitted by Thursday, March 12, 2020.
For more information, see the commission’s full press release.
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This is really a shame. Seventy is the new fifty. The United States Supreme Court has justices past seventy. Justice Pollack has contributed so much and has so much more to contribute on the bench. The people of Hawaii should be ashamed of themselves for allowing for this age discrimination to remain in our Constitution.