HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down a request to tweak a constitutional amendment voters are scheduled to decide next month regarding judges’ mandatory retirement age, but it’s possible the ballot measure could be pushed back to November under revised language.
The court issued a one-page opinion that denied the request by Senate Republican leaders to remove wording the plaintiffs consider unnecessary and confusing.
But the 5-to-0 court opinion said its decision did not necessarily preclude “any future legislative or executive action,” and on Tuesday the GOP leaders, Secretary of State Pedro Cortes and the attorney general’s office told the court they had reached an agreement that would reword the amendment and pull it from the April 26 election.
Senate Republican lawyer Drew Crompton said Wednesday work was underway to delay the vote and address related issues.
Administration spokesman Jeff Sheridan acknowledged the administration had joined the Senate Republicans in asking for the court to approve the agreement, but declined to say whether it will support a delay of the vote and rewriting of the amendment without a Supreme Court ruling.
The state has spent more than $1 million since January advertising the ballot question.
The state constitution currently requires the state’s more than 1,000 justices and judges to retire by the end of the year in which they turn 70. The amendment would change age 70 to age 75.
The court’s lone Republican, Chief Justice Thomas Saylor, did not participate in the decision. He turns 70 in December, one of 20 state judges to reach that benchmark before the end of 2016.
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