Take age discrimination out of our Constitution

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: BALLOT QUESTION 3 On Election Day, voters will be asked to vote "yes" or "no" on Constitutional Amendment 3, which reads: "Shall the mandatory retirement age of seventy for all state court justices and judges be repealed?"

ON ELECTION DAY you will be asked if judges should serve past age 70. My vote will be yes and here is why. Throughout my career, the Legislature has been asked to make Hawaii laws conform to federal law. Attorneys general and prosecutors have asked us to "toughen" state law by copying federal law.

They have asked us to look to the federal laws as the model for Hawaii laws.

Then why is it that Attorney General Mark Bennett and City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle oppose changing the Hawaii Constitution to emulate the U.S. Constitution?

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, who presided over the integration of our nation's schools, served 21 years. Appointed by President Eisenhower in 1953, he served from age 62 until he retired at 83. Chief Justice and Richard Nixon appointee William Rehnquist led the Supreme Court from age 48 until his death at 81 in 2005.

Many outstanding Supreme Court justices served with great distinction well past the age of 70. Thurgood Marshall served 24 years from age 58 until he retired at age 82. Hugo Black, a Franklin Roosevelt appointee, served from 1937 to 1971. Black was 85 when he retired. Louis Powell, a Nixon appointee, served from 1972 to 1987. Powell was 80 when he retired. William Douglas served from 1939 to 1975 when he retired at age 77; Louis Brandeis served the Supreme Court beginning at the age of 60 for 23 years. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes served from age 61 until age 90.

THE FIRST WOMAN to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor was once called the most powerful woman in America. O'Connor was 51 when she was appointed by President Reagan and served until age 76. Eighty-six-year-old Paul Stevens now serves on the Supreme Court, as does Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who is 73; Antonin Scalia, appointed in 1986, and Anthony Kennedy, appointed in 1988, are both 70 years young.

In Hawaii, Judge Samuel King, first appointed to the federal bench in 1972 at age 56, continues to serve with distinction at age 90. Judge Martin Pence was 95 years old when he retired in 2005.

Perhaps the most famous American to serve his country past the age of 70 was President Ronald Reagan. The "Great Communicator" presided as the most powerful man in the world beginning at age 70 until his retirement at age 78.

OUR HISTORY shouts loudly of a bygone era where ethnic races were discriminated one against the other during the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the plantations. Today in Hawaii we pride ourselves on our diversity, our equality and our deference toward each other. Why is it then that Hawaii continues to discriminate against a judge because of his or her age?

Since the beginning of our nation's government more than 230 years ago, age was never a factor when serving on any court including the highest, the Supreme Court, regardless of who lived in the White House or served in the Congress. One cornerstone of our nation's Constitution is that age discrimination, like any type of discrimination, shall not be tolerated.

THOSE WHO oppose this amendment do so on the basis of politics instead of looking at the merits of the proposal. People beyond the age of 70 have served Hawaii honorably. One need look no further than Dan Inouye, Dan Akaka, Sam King, Martin Pence and Hiram Fong as bipartisan examples.

The time has long since passed to end age discrimination in Hawaii. That is why I will vote "yes" on Constitutional Amendment Question 3.

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