Section 26. 1. All judges other than municipal judges shall retire at the age of seventy years, except as provided in the schedule to this article, under a retirement plan provided by law.
2. All judges may retire at an earlier age authorized by law and may participate in a retirement plan provided by law.
3. Any retired judge, associate circuit judge or commissioner, with his consent, may be assigned by the supreme court as a senior judge to any court in this state or as a special commissioner. When serving as a senior judge he shall have the same powers as an active judge.
(Adopted August 3, 1976)(1991) Where Missouri's judges are appointees on a policymaking level and there was no clear congressional intent to include such judges within coverage of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Missouri's mandatory retirement requirement for state judges does not violate the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Gregory v. Ashcroft, 111 S. Ct. 2395.
(1991) Where judges' physical and mental capacities would diminish with age and unlike other state officials, the election process might be inadequate to determine which judges' performance had become deficient, there is a rational basis for the mandatory retirement age and age is not a suspect classification, therefore constitutional provision does not violate equal protection. Gregory v. Ashcroft, 111 S. Ct. 2395.
Missouri General Assembly