This weekend Louisiana voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the mandatory retirement age for state court judges. Constitutional Amendment 5, which would have increased the age cap from 70 to 75, was rejected by more than 76% of voters. This is the third time in roughly 30 years that Louisiana’s electorate has turned down some version of this proposal. Under current Louisiana law, a judge who turns 70 while serving a term may finish out that term but cannot run for reelection once reaching that age. Amendment 5 would have raised that threshold to 75 under the same rules
Supporters of the amendment argued that experience is one of a judge’s most valuable assets, and that forcing capable, sharp jurists off the bench at 70 wastes an important public resource. Louisiana’s current retirement age ties with 15 other states for the lowest in the country, while eight states — including Florida and Texas — already set the limit at 75. Sponsors also noted that the Judiciary Commission already has authority to remove judges who are no longer competent, making mandatory retirement a blunt tool where a more precise one exists.
Opponents countered that the retirement age, imposed by the 1974 constitution, exists for a reason. Judges make decisions that affect the lives, liberty, and property of thousands of people, and the mandatory cutoff provides a safeguard against the gradual cognitive decline that can be difficult to detect even by the person experiencing it. The retirement age also functions as an informal term limit, ensuring some eventual degree of turnover.
Louisiana voters have now weighed in on this question three times, and three times they have reached the same conclusion. In 1995, voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have raised the retirement age to 75. In 2014, voters rejected a proposal that would have eliminated the mandatory retirement age altogether. Now, in 2026, voters have once again declined to raise the mandatory retirement age for state judges in Louisiana.
